Standardized Testing

It was that time again; time to begin the standardized testing. I could feel the anxiety overflow the room as the teacher passed out the test booklets. It was time for innocent individuals to be transformed into hypnotized robots.

I could see the look of panic was in their eyes. I could almost hear their excuses. "If only I got more sleep last night." "If I had eaten breakfast." "I'll never finish in time." I felt sorry for them. I knew that it wouldn't have made a lump of difference if they ate enough food to fill the Grand Canyon or got more sleep than a grizzly bear during the long months of hibernation. THESE TESTS WERE OVER-RATED. Am I the only one who can see this bold reality?

There are more effective ways to analyze our knowledge. For instance they could send us to a deserted island in the middle of a scorching desert without water and train us to fend for ourselves. Or possibly drop us in the middle of Iraq with nothing but a whistle and an egg-beater.

It is ridiculous how their whole education up to this point is based on the next 60 minutes. If they could recall a time when schools were thought of as places to learn instead of institutions in a contest to fail as many students as possible. If the purpose of these tests are to weed out the students who have learned to utilize tools such as the dictionary, thesaurus, and the idea that practice makes perfect, then they have succeeded. BUT IN A WORLD OF ROUGH DRAFTS AND EDITING THESE TESTS FAIL WITH A CAPTIAL LETTER Z! Surely Michelangelo did not paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 60 minutes. Nor did Beethoven compose his 5^th symphony within the pressure of a time limit.