There is no denying that one of the most hated educational practices is that of standardized tests. While they are certainly an important tool to help differentiate between students, there is also something incredibly depressing about a test that is so uninteresting. Teachers around the country have recently begun to notice how little students seem to care about these supposedly important tests. Normally ambitious and hardworking students are increasingly disillusioned with the tests that will help them get into the school of their choice and teachers are beginning to wonder if having these tests is worth sapping the creativity and will to learn that students used to feel, all in the name of going a higher-ranking college.

One of the ways that teachers have gauged the interest of students in tests and other academic pursuits is how often they try to cheat for higher grades. By walking around a classroom when students are taking these tests, teachers use proximity to both catch students who are cheating as well as to oversee the class. However some teachers have noticed that students don’t even care enough about these standardized tests to cheat, and that is slightly worrisome. While the level of student care and interest in the tests have fallen, the level of resentment towards the tests has drastically risen. An incredibly worrisome trend when you look at how the USA is falling behind in terms of education.

To many students, the situations that they deal with currently in their every day lives (such as poverty, bullying, and abuse of all sorts) are infinitely more important than some test that is supposed to help rank them against their peers and friends. The only people who care about these tests are those who judge the schools (such as politicians), the administration, and the teachers who need good results on these tests to justify the importance of their jobs. Instead of actively trying to interest the students in learning and education, we have been feeding them pre-set cookie cutter plans that have taken the joy out of learning and replaced it with a bland and uninteresting educational landscape that is failing to grab the attention of our future generations. The desires of politicians and businesses to turn schools into money-making ventures are damaging those who need the schools to work well, the students themselves.

 

If you’d like to read more, here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/the-death-of-creativity-standardized-tests_b_5316147.html