Tuesday, November 15, 2016
It's All About The Tests
Isn't school and education supposed to be focused around learning? Instead, our education systems are focused around testing. We see it every day in A.P. classes where the main goal of the class is to score a 5 on the test in May. Teachers mainly teach and rush through content that will be asked on the test by College Board. For example, Mr. Nguyen skipped chapter 3 because it wasn't part of the content that would be asked on the exam. He would've taught chapter 3 so we could learn more math lessons if the class wasn't revolved around exams and testing. If we were in a school environment that focused on learning then teachers would teach content they want to teach and feel is important. There would be more class discussions, and the teacher would be more lenient in discussing a wide range of topics that don't relate to multiple choice questions.
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I agree that testing is too prioritized in our school system. It puts too much pressure on kids who get stressed out each day by the mentioning of tests. Then afterwards, that information that they crammed the night before can easily be lost and forgotten. The main focus should be on the content of the lessons and not the tests.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that schools are too focused on testing. For AP classes, well it is important to know everything on the final test in May, that is why we take those classes right? But besides that, even in other classes all we focus on are tests and these standardized tests. Many teachers are not focused on if students are understanding the lesson, which sucks.
ReplyDeleteThe reality really sucks, but we have to live with it. Testing is the best way to assess how well a student has learned the content. It goes much further than just content though because I also analyzes a student's effort. Even though we forget many of the things we've learned, we tried hard to cram it in, and I'm proud of my hard work! Also, teachers can't teach what they feel is important for many reasons. One, we can only learn so many things in 9-10 months of school. Two, a teacher will can teach something they feel is important, but isn't essential in the real world. The purpose of standards is to prepare/teach us things we will need to know in the future of our careers, and testing just makes sure students are forced to understand them because it threatens a student's grade. Don't get me wrong, I hate tests just like every other student, but we have to understand the logic and reasoning behind these tests before we criticize them.
ReplyDeleteMany schools are focused on standardized test rather than actual learning and elaboration. When they do ask you to elaborate and think like the new Common Core Standards students find it difficult because they are used to standardized test.
ReplyDeleteAlthough tests are taken to asses how much a student has learned, I agree that school systems emphasize and are way too focused on testing. Schools should be a tool for students to use to gain information, not a place where they have to reiterate what they learned on a piece of paper. Testing takes the enjoyment out of learning. In addition, some students may be bad test takers and feel like they are under pressure when they have to take a test and others might be great test takers and breeze through it with no problem. Testing is not the best idea when it comes to assessing what we learned because everyone has their different strengths and weaknesses.
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