How Standardized Testing is affecting our Education
You walk into a big room with rows of tables, you find your name and you pull out the folding chair tucked under the table. You sit down with your three number two pencils freshly sharpened and your calculator on the side of the table waiting to have numbers punched into it. You look around at all your peers preparing to take this test that you all have spent countless hours studying for. The proctor finally gets to you with your test, you look down at the test and a coat of anxiety covers you, your heart starts to beat a bit faster and your mind goes blank. Students all across America are all too familiar to this process, but why are we heavily relying on a test that doesn’t asses the skills we will need for our future?
Our entire educational career is preparing us to take the SAT/ACT, these tests are only testing the analytical skills and not the creative or practical skills. Our sole focus has been turned to performing well on this test, instead of understanding how to learn and strengthening good habits before going off to college. This test has changed the curriculum and how teachers are teaching. According to Creative Education teachers are now forced to “teach to the test.” This test has become such a massive part of the student’s life as well as the teachers. By students performing well on this test, teachers in return have a good reputation and then will lead to the overall school system having a good reputation, this leads to the school systems pushing the teachers to teach so the students do well on the test. The test factors into every decision the teachers make, forcing them to “teach to the test”. Instead of teaching “to the test”, we need to make sure that the curriculum is fitting all learning styles and we are giving every student an equal chance to show their understanding without the high stakes. According to Creative Learning “One test doesn’t fit all,” students learn in very different ways and should be allowed to show their learning differences. By having one test for everyone, some kids are being punished simply because of their poor test-taking skills.
By just testing the analytical strategies, you’re not able to test how the students will succeed in the future because the creative and practical skills play a big role in telling how well the students will do in their future endeavors. These tests are only able to test how well the student can memorize or analyze and it isn’t giving the college or school system a true understanding of areas that are in need of improvement. Our world is continuously changing but why isn’t our school system changing as well? We still change classes based on bells, get the summers off just like they used to in order to help out on the farm, and we sit in rows of desks for 8 hours a day. 100 years ago the same system was used in schools, however back then they were being taught for their future jobs but this way of teaching no longer correlates with the world. We aren’t being taught to succeed in life we are being taught to do well on one four-hour-long test that will only affect our lives for a short amount of time, and they will no longer have an impact. A long standing allegorical states “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” By not allowing kids to explore and find out what they like and what works for them, we are turning students into robots, giving information to the students all the same way and having them compete to get the highest grade. Our world took the steps a long time ago to industrialize and advance to compare and compete with other countries, but by not allowing our students to explore and try new skills, we will no longer be advancing and will eventually plateau. The future lies in the hands of the students, we need to allow them to take these steps and explore topics of interest and discover new information in order for us to continue to grow and advance.
The United States was ranked number one in high school education, 20 years ago but now countries like Denmark Sweden, Norway, and Finland have surpassed the US due to their innovative and creative school system they have taken this title of the number one education system(CNBC). Although standardized testing in some cases can lead to knowledge about the system and the teaching, it doesn’t prepare the students for life after high school due to the teachers having to adjust their lesson plans in order for the students to do well on the tests. Finland is the leader in education currently and their system is close to the opposite of ours. Finland’s students have shorter school days with more frequent breaks in order to have higher attention for a shorter amount of time, by having the breaks this also allows the students to refresh and then come back ready to learn. By using this schedule the teachers have the students attention and the students are able to focus. While in the US students get one hour or less for a break and they are expected to stay focused the rest of the time. As far as homework goes, the average 15-year-old in Finland spends 2.8 hours a week on homework, while in the US the average 15-year old spends 6.1 hours a week completing their homework. By having more frequent breaks and less homework, this lowers the stress levels and allows the students to only focus on the learning. Finland and the US do things very differently, the biggest difference is that Finland is adjusting to how the world is changing and they are better preparing their students to succeed in their future. For example, by having a more open schedule they are allowed to give the students more real-world experiences like this one, ”They sent us into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out”(LA Times). From a very young age, the students are able to experience and learn in such an innovative way, unlike most students. The teachers in Finland are able to create a curriculum that caters to the student’s needs due to not needing to prepare the students a test. Finland only takes one standardized test at the end of their secondary education, and this exam is not a graduation requirement nor a post-secondary education requirement. Due to this test not having as much pressure, the students are able to stay calm and just worry about the content on the test and not focus on how much of an impact the test can have like in the United States.
It is time to take the students out of this strict environment they are currently in, take them off the black and white scale. Simply comparing the United States’s school system and test scores to other countries gives us enough motive to make the change in our schools. We have the opportunity to give kids the curriculum that allows them to embrace their practical and creative side which will only help and advance our own country. The future is at stake here we need to take the steps to make the change now.
