Evaluation Of Education In Russell Baker's School Vs. Education

The reason for theses tests are to make a student more knowledgeable, and a head start for college, but they keep the students at a tenth grade level with each test. Even if the student is promoted to the next grade,the student will not be introduced to the education they require. If these tests do not give what is promised, then why have them? If the state, teachers, students, and schools focus more on education and less on state tests standards; then the teachers will have done their job. Students will be ready for college and their future careers.

Also kids involved in sports or extra activities do not do as well as other students, because of the less time to study. Also kids with after school jobs are more likely to fail courses or even classes. “These kids are not failing school because they don’t try hard or because they don’t study, it’s because they are to involved in other activities”, says Laurence Steinberg. The second source was an article in Family Life. The article “Adolescence & Peer Pressure” was written by Herbert G. Lingren.

This implies that despite having gone through the education system, these graduates lack the ability for to perform advanced tasks in reading and writing such as filling out a job application and tax form. The reason identified in this research paper include the practice of social promotion, the use of too many movie assignments and cheating in academic tests and assignments. Obviously, the high level of functional illiteracy among high school graduates is alarming and calls for immediate intervention to prevent the statistics from rising to uncontrolled levels. A literate society is a successful society, thus it is high time that the school administrators and other stakeholders came up with effective measures to prevent cheating, which has been identified as the worst factor that is promoting the level of functional illiteracy among high school graduates.

The common core state standard creates extra pressure on teachers, puts our students at a true disadvantage, and removes parent involvement from our student’s education. Teachers are our hidden gems. Although not treated as such, they are a resource that is overlooked and underappreciated. In my opinion, there are three types of teachers: The driven teacher with a passion to educate students, the... ... middle of paper ... ...repeat itself. With the new standards our children may take a test that seems confusing and they may even get a little discouraged by feeling that they have no knowledge over the subject when they truly do/ Is that what the common core was created for?

The extreme pressure on students to get perfect grades so that they will be accepted into a college has diminished the concept of actually learning and has left the art of “finagling the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005). There are many ways that should be implemented in order to reduce the stress on students so that they can thrive because, withoutthem, the school systems will only be creating generations of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students (Palmer, 2005). There are multiple causes when it comes to stressed out students. First consider where the pressure is coming from for students to get good grades. Parents and teachers tend to be the main suspects.

On the other hand, standardized testing is viewed as an inaccurate way to measure the knowledge of students because it cannot portray and convey the many characteristics that could make them a good student. Many people believe that standardized testing is the best way to measure student’s achievements effectively because it provides the colleges with accurate achievements from the students. The way this is measure is through either of these Standardized Tests; SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test] and ACT [American College Testing]. These tests provide the colleges with the grades that the high school students are predicted the success while attending there university. (source 4) In some research show that, standardized tests are a great way to measure a student’s knowledge and skills because they are comprehensive, open-minded, and effective.

Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading. The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s.

An article by Greg Jouriles helps explain why we don’t need these tests. He claims, “Standardized tests are unnecessary because they rarely show what we don’t already know” (Jouriles, Greg). He also goes on to explain that one’s test score isn’t reliable and that we should trust the teachers when grades are published. A school system can accurately judge the students in the school on what they are good at better than the standardized tests do. They can break down many different aspects of what students need to improve on and what they are already knowledgeable of.

My parents thought that hiding things from me would help me make smarter decisions. At a younger age that may have worked, but now when a certain situation comes my way, I have no clue what to do. If both learning styles were taught in school instead of the education system always leaning toward only academics, it would have been easier for me to adapt to adulthood now. I openly admit that I lack common sense now because I was always pressured to read the assigned books, meet ridiculous deadlines and get the best grades. I look back on it now and while it may have looked better on college applications that I went to a fancy county school, deep down I feel like I will not be ready to live on my own as quick as I should.

Students spend the majority of their time preparing for standardized tests, instead of spending their time learning. In addition, standardized tests give students anxiety, and could lead them to want to drop out of high school due to all of the stress. I believe that standardized tests should not carry so much weight in the education system. They should serve as checks of the educational system rather than as a determinant of the future of