Lyndsey Layton, a Washington D. C. reporter who specifically writes only about education for children in the age groups from kindergarten to twelfth grade, says, " A typical student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade" (Layton). A standardized test is a test of any form that requires a group of individuals to answer the same questions in either a written or multiple-choice form. These tests are scored in a reliable manner which makes it attainable to compare the performance of students that have taken the test. Children take these standardized tests for about fourteen years of their life. In school, we are told we are being prepared for the real world, but how often will we be asked to sit in a room for 4-5 hours and fill in bubbles on a scantron? Standardized tests do not prepare students for college or careers. Standardized tests do not include the use of critical thinking at all. It has been proven that many students perform poorly on these tests even though they have mastered the material. Test anxiety in children is increasing rapidly. The Obama administration changed their education policy, stating that too much time is spent on standardized testing, and they are discussing on changing these laws. President Obama believes that testing has repressed creativity, created unneeded stress on not only students but teachers as well, and consumed valuable learning time (Serrano). "Standardized tests have been a scourge of student life in America for more than 50 years, but it's fair to say they're more pressure-packed and ubiquitous than ever before" (Fletcher). Testing should be limited because school is taking up a significant amount of time testing rather than actually learning the material, the stress of testing is making children ill and increasing anxiety, and it is taking away a child's desire to learn.
In the first place, testing takes up a significant amount of time away from learning the actual material. "Students spend up to 25 hours a year taking tests" (Serrano). The purpose of going to school is to actually learn and understand the material. Standardized tests are defeating the purpose of school. Students aren't the only ones who have to stress about succeeding; teachers are also under a lot of pressure because they are evaluated on how well their students perform on these exams. Both students and teachers work remarkably hard to master these tests, but it is not exactly fair. How a student performs has nothing to do with how well a teacher completes their job. Also, students are only attentive to the information they receive about testing because they want to do well on the test. After the test, they no longer care about what they learned. The issue is students have the wrong intentions of gaining this education. It is not because they are interested, engaged, and want to absorb more knowledge; it is because they are afraid of failure if they don't learn it. These tests are ...
