Arguments Against Standardized Testing

Deandra Aurelia

Mr. Allan Ostenfeld

English 12F

18th May 2016

Standardised Testing Should Not Be Used to Measure Intelligence As of today, the education board all over the world has implemented various ways to evaluate students’ progress in schools. One of the various ways that the education board all over the world have implemented to evaluate students’ academical progress is standardised testing. For many years, students have been tested in various compulsory subjects and if students do not achieve the minimum grade for each subject, they cannot pass or even graduate from their educational institutions (school, university, college). In Philadelphia, America, for example, the graduation rate is extremely concerning. According to the Atlantic,

Not only that, but standardised testing does not fully utilise a student’s potential and skills. In this paper, I will elaborate further why standardised testing should not be used further to evaluate a person’s intelligence and how the numbers generated from standardised testing should not be used to measure how smart or intelligent a person is. To do so, in this paper, it will be branched into different sections and the sections elaborate different points. Standardised testing has been commonly used and almost every student in the world has managed to answer questions in a form of standardised test to review the materials that has been studied in an academic year or so. Standardised test is defined as a type of test which requires test takers to correctly solve the same type of questions and the scores are based on a certain syllabus. (Ed Glossary,

An IQ test, for instance, is considered as a standardised test. IQ test itself is objected to find out how good a person can think logically. Frankly, the higher the IQ score, it indicates smartness, whereas people who achieve lower score are perceived as slow-thinkers, or “dumb.” Schools internationally have commonly practiced standardised testing as a part of assessing students’ knowledge about a certain topic to ensure that their progress is monitored well by the teachers and to ensure that students have achieved the expectations that must be met. However, although it may be practical for teachers to review students using this way, standardised test is not an accurate tool to predict whether a student advances at a certain topic or not.

Standardised testing is a major problem for students who do not excel well in academics, because they are unable to showcase their true capabilities. For example, in Indonesia, it is still highly relevant especially Indonesia use UN (Ujian Nasional/National Exams) as a part of graduation requirement in public schools. UN is often used to assess a student’s knowledge; the grades produced are examined and used as a tool to measure whether a student is proficient enough to graduate