“Where is the standardized testing that can accurately measure passion for learning, respect for others, and human empathy?” These are the words of Tom McKenna, a disgruntled high school teacher from Portland, Oregon. Just alike the other educators and students across the nation, Tom is tired of the system. The educational system today is made up of many standardized tests. Standardized tests are tools designed to allow measure of student performance relative to all others taking the same test. Standardized tests are bad for many reasons. They cause teachers to limit their curriculum, put low-level income and minority students at a disadvantage, cause school districts to focus too heavily on raising test scores, and extract the passion for learning from students. It used to be a part of life, but now it’s causing kids not to go to college, and it’s causing kids to have a level of stress that shouldn’t even be allowed. People all over are stating that they give a false overview of who the student actually is, and in the end, these tests won’t get you anywhere in life. It’s important to many people including students who are taking the tests, teachers who are preparing the students for these tests and of course the parents who have to deal with all the complaints from their child about these tests. This is a pretty important issue today, because so much is riding on these tests. If you do poorly you won’t get accepted to the university you want, or your teacher could get fired because of your performance. Although some people think standardized testing is just a part of life and it teaches students that it’s not okay to fail, these tests give a false interpretation of who the student actually is. One score does not tell you if that person is an outstanding individual or not. A student could guess on every question and still perform well. This will give their teacher the idea that they know the material based off their test score but in reality they do…
