A long time ago, one of my teachers in middle-school said, “No matter what the circumstances, test scores never lie.” His point was that test scores are the most direct way to show one’s performance, and there is no easier way to visualize one’s ability. If you put in the effort, scores can never fail you. As he said, standardized tests might be the easiest way to show one’s performance and abilities. However, I don’t think it is fair to let these tests play a huge role in measuring someone’s worth, because many standardized tests are biased and only focusing on the level of education.
Standardized tests are not designed for every individual, but for an average portion of society. Also, sometimes they are biased on many things including culture. Therefore, these tests can’t measure either exceptional individuals or people from outside of society who are not familiar with local culture. Moreover, many standardized tests are mostly focused on measuring one’s level of education rather than one’s true potential. Sometimes, an individual’s talents can’t be measure as a score. However, because of this systemic problem, many gifted people are not spotted but instead buried.
To fix these problems, huge reforms on the current system of our society is needed. First, there should be more than a few types of exams so one’s potential is not mistakenly missed. Second, standardized tests should not be biased on certain things such as culture. Most importantly, tests shouldn’t focus on showing what level of education that individual has, but reflect more the true potential of a person.
I agree. And some of us are not good test takers because it is difficult for us to sit and concentrate for 5 and 6 hours at a time, not because we do not know the material or are not creative thinkers. We can not help it, we are simply wired this way.
ReplyDeleteI can study for days and someone else not study at all and they still do better and people cheat all the time so I do not feel tests are very good to see what level students are on.
ReplyDeleteI thnk the SATs are kind of like this. I know people that really aren't very smart, but do good on the SATs, or people that work very hard and have the best GPAs, but don't do good on the SATs. Some people just aren't good test takers. Especially since people can pay the money to take SAT classes and boost their grades, over someone who can't pay for all of the classes. That's why a lot of colleges are switching to the ACTs, because it better assesses your ability.
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