Standardized Testing Essay

A high school senior who plans to attend college is placing the fate of their future in their ability to pass standardized tests. This means that an entire high school career full of new experiences, creative projects, and overall diversity is reduced to test scores and achievements. These tests value consistency and uniformity, however, each individual has different skills and weaknesses that should be measured in a more personalized way. If schools taught to prepare students for the “real world”, they would further promote collaboration, critical thinking, and curiosity. Instead, the standardized tests at schools have been similar for decades, even though the world continues to change. Schools should eliminate standardized testing since they

The room is silent, cold, and bleak and the anxiety in the air could be cut with a knife. It is hard to imagine another time in anyone’s life when they will be under these same circumstances and required to take a test. There is little to nothing about this experience that can be taken and applied to a student’s life in the future. A fundamental reason for attending school is to learn skills that will help growth and success in the future, yet how is standardized testing accomplishing that goal? Students simply spit out answers on multiple-choice questions with no critical thinking or collaboration. Personally, I feel as though I am trained to ingest information and then repeat it back to my educators without needing to understand its real importance. When reading of the skills that standardized tests teach students, they consist of the same objective reasons. Student progress can be measured, teachers can identify areas for improvement, grading is efficient, there are fair comparisons, etc (20 Standardized Tests Pros and Cons). Yet these are only pros that further benefit the school system. Job fields and careers are looking for people with assertiveness, problem-solving skills, creative thinking, interpersonal skills, and so many more qualities that are not taught by taking standardized tests. Furthermore, the fact that the majority of a school year is spent on teaching what is needed to pass the end-of-course exams, instead of what is beneficial to a student’s future, seems absurd. Despite these negative impacts, standardized testing has helped track the progression of education across the