What's Wrong With Standardized Testing

Albert Einstein once said that, “not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” The education system in America can not seem to understand this, however. They are factory machines whose goal is to keep creating an iPhone that would fit any Android charger. To make it clear, it is like having multiple different types of Android chargers but owning an iPhone. There is no way that any of those chargers will fit the iPhone; then why are children, as different and unique as they are, expected to fit within students’ predetermined achievements that discard their potential? The real problem with the education system in America is not so much charging the iPhone, but the breaking of Android chargers every …show more content…
When it comes to standardized testing, “all tests takers answer the same questions under the same conditions, usually in multiple-choice format…[which requires] quick answers to superficial questions” (What's Wrong With Standardized Tests?). The problem at stake here is that while some Android chargers are closer to fitting the iPhone than others, at the end of the day, none of them are equipped to correspond. Likely so, while some students are better test takers than others, none of them are really getting anything out of this test . The test is only composed of artificial, biased, multiple choice questions, which does “not measure the ability to think deeply or creatively in any field” (What's Wrong With Standardized Tests?). But the question comes in with those students who are not prone to do as well as others. What can be done about them? Easy, strain them into the iPhone nonetheless. Ideally, this makes it easier for test-makers; since the purpose of standardized testing is to rank, those who naturally perform low, will continue to perform lower than the rest. Unfortunately, “the obsession with [ranking students has guided] standardized test scores [to lead] to a one-size-fits-all curriculum that ignores the needs of individual students” (Strauss). However, if this process is thought through in the student’s point of view, it will be a whole new …show more content…
Students go through a lot of inner trauma during the test phase which ultimately reflects on their score. It has been recorded that “from kindergarten through high school, the causes of childhood stress are numerous. One of the most commonly cited is standardized-test stress, which starts in first-grade in many states” (Wilde). This is the problem, not only is standardized testing causing severe stress on the brightest students, but it also affects the younger generations more drastically, causing some to end up vomiting during the test (ProCon). Not only is severe stress the problem, but also anxiety. It can be concluded and agreed upon the fact that test anxiety is associated with “lower academic performance and that a linear relationship exists between anxiety and examination performance” (Reteguiz). Anxiety is has a greater impact than stress does. According to dictionary.com, anxiety is “distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune,” and it is not necessarily wrong (dictionary.com). Anxiety is “an unpleasant emotional state or condition with perceived feelings of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry” (Reteguiz). The side effects of situation-specific anxiety, such as standardized testing induced anxiety, include “increased blood pressure, rapid heart rate with palpitations and tachycardia, sweating, dryness of the mouth, nausea, dizziness, hyperventilation, restlessness,