I can honestly say that the United States has a good amount of educated people. That doesn't mean that there aren't downfalls in our system. Now while we have numerous problems with the education system, my biggest one is our standardized testing methods. I feel like the way that American students are evaluated is not fair due to how creative the minds we hold can be. The testing system we have is an unfair way of determining our intelligence. We have a good amount of respectable and hardworking teachers but when it comes to “measuring” our intelligence I strongly feel we are being evaluated terribly.
Personally I got a 20 on my ACT, what is considered “the most important test” for a student in Illinois and numerous other states to see what college will take us in. During almost all of high school I had about a 3.75 GPA. I worked very hard on my work and as much as I hate math it was my best subject. I will not say I am the smartest by any means but I did do very well in school. Most people that I told my score to had a very surprising reaction. All the practice ACT’s I took I always got no higher than a 22. I wasn't the only one either. I knew too many intelligent people who did not do very well on the ACT.
When we are taught and have assignments to do there are so many things that we are able to do from projects to participation in class. Representing our intelligence in the way we carry ourselves. But with standardized testing all we are is students filling in one of four buy les to an answer. Then people in suits read these an determine who we are simply from this. Not knowing how we actually work through our day. One thing that limits our creativity is the fact that when we have to take these tests teachers have to take their time out to teach us how to take these tests. They are “teaching us to test”. An article on Education.com by Jasmine Evans says it best when she states “Opponents of high-stakes testing claim that with tests at the center of a year's curriculum, teachers lose some of the dynamism and creativity that makes school effective and enjoyable—that there is no value placed on concepts and hands-on projects that require a greater challenge than what can be tested in a multiple-choice format.”
Some teachers even believe this so strongly they decide to quit their job. Social studies teacher Ron Maggiano quit his 33 year teaching job for this reason alone. His reason for quitting he said was “I can no longer cooperate with a testing regime that I believe is suffocating creativity and innovation in the classroom. We are not really educating our students anymore. We are merely teaching them to pass a test. This is wrong. Period.”
Why should we limit the creativity and ways that a student can demonstrate their intelligence? They might call it no child left behind but that might be because we are all staying behind our full capabilities. Numerous people agree and there are many reasons as to why standardized testing is just terrible for a persons career. But it all comes down to the same thing, that is that this testing limits our full intellectual ability to be represented to everyone else. That doesn't only affect them in high school but it can for the rest of their lives in some way.
https://aae.boisestate.edu/testing/
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Test_Problems_Seven/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/22/11-problems-created-by-the-standardized-testing-obsession/
http://www.ct4me.net/standardized_test_preparation.htm
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