Testing Voids Meaning
by Jessica ButlerI wonder what the world would be like if we were all the same. Some things would be good, others bad. No individuality, no uniqueness. In public schools today, our teachers are required by the state of North Carolina to teach us according to the End-Of-Course (EOC) or End-Of-Grade (EOG) we will take at the end of the year. All students must conform to the same teaching curriculums and methods every year. Teachers are forced to relinquish their teaching creativity, therefore making classes boring and, ultimately, students don't retain what they learn. We remember what we must for tests, then dump the information. In the end, we the students don't retain valuable information.
EOG's and EOC's are the most important tests all year long for students. This can make or break your year, if you're not careful, as they count for about 20-25% of our year-end grade. Teachers teach only what is expected to be on the test and nothing else. I remember when I lived up in more northern states and we didn't have standardized testing. Teachers were more free in how they taught and what they taught, according to what they deemed important.
Teachers are required to fit a certain number of topics into the curriculum, which means we breeze over chapters as though they were void of meaning. This can make classes especially boring, most students don't pay attention, and even those who do care go to sleep. There is no specialization in teaching techniques or methods to make classes interesting. Essentially, classes are of no interest to students.
The stress factor also is involved in these all-important tests. Many students stress out over these all-including tests, understandably so with all the hours of studying needed to pass with flying colors. Teachers are required to fit in everything needed to pass an EOC or EOG at the end of each year. Some might ask why they would conform so easily to the requisites for these tests. In most school systems, a teacher's pay is based on how well their students do on the end-of-year tests. That is some incentive, don't you think?
Standardized testing makes classes null and dull, and students, concordantly, are tired of it. I can't imagine that teachers would choose this testing system of their own volition, but they are used to it. Hopefully, in the future, students will not be as pressured by meaningless tests for excellence as they are now, and I think that only then will there be true success.
Jessica is a youth in the Thomas Jefferson District.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
