Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ACT, advanced placement, getting into college, private education, public education, SAT, standardized education ยท Edit
I suppose I should elaborate on my last post.
Standardized testing is detrimental to a child’s self esteem. Some, who are deemed “advanced” may become narcissistic later in life, since at an early age, they have been told they are simply smarter than their peers. But perhaps, their learning styles just simply fit that of the teaching styles of many of our schools, which today, teach to a test anyway. Others, deemed average, or below average often times may develop esteem issues. Bottom line: children are impressionable. We must not forget that.
Now, you may be asking yourself, where’s the research? And although, I have no scientific data to back up this hypothesis, I do have personal experience. Myself, my brother and many of my peers can attest to the fact that standardized testing had a negative effect on our self esteem. More on this later.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ACT, advanced placement, getting into college, private education, public education, SAT, standardized education
There are so many things to say about standardized testing, so perhaps I should start with something that bothers me most on a very personal level: standardized testing is absolutely detrimental to a child’s emotional growth and self esteem. While testing can be an effective way to determine where someone or something stands in regards to its peers, it is not a healthy way to test children. Children should be provided with a encouraging and supportive learning environment, rather than a learning environment thats only purpose is to judge. To a grade school student, feedback that states “below average” can be easily interpreted as “you are stupid”. Is that how we want our kids, who might be fabulous artists or excellent communicators, to feel just because they aren’t as good at math as the rest? Or perhaps, their learning styles simply don’t match that of our state implemented teaching styles.
In the mind of a ten year old, when your daily concerns involve catching the bus on time, and what game you will play at recess, something as big as a standardized test that “measures intelligence” is sure to make an impact.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ACT, advanced placement, getting into college, private education, public education, SAT, standardized education
Standard: the ideal in terms of which something can be judged.
Lets get to the point: standardized testing does more harm than good. Kids these days don’t learn material, but rather the loop holes and shortcuts to get a decent grade on a test administered by the state (and a few lucky ones happen to excel).
Shouldn’t our educational system support the education of our youth, rather than setting a generalized benchmark by which we judge education? If anything, standardized testing is a barometer for the government’s progress, rather than barometer for a child’s progress. Lets face it, we all learn in different ways and at different rates. Programs should recognize and support diversity in learning, rather than standardizing the process.
This is something that is very important to me, and as a student and an advocate of effective learning, I hope to educate through my personal experiences and concrete research.
