The Element By Sir Ken Robinson: Chapter Analysis

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

The world is no longer concerned with educating whole human beings, but instead, it is focused on collecting “data.” “Standardized testing robs students and teachers of using their creativity and critical thinking. It holds everyone accountable for meeting this one standard when that is nearly impossible to do. It turns us into robots, dehumanizing both teachers and students.” (Gettysburg College, 1) Standardized test are given to schools by the government. The problem with that is that the government is not in the classroom with students every day. They do not know what the students need. Standardized testing takes away time from student learning experiences where they are not able to think critically or be creative. Standardized tests take place in an artificial learning environment. They are timed, students are not allowed to ask questions, use references, talk to another student, and they cannot even get up and move around. All of these things do not mirror the reality of the real world at all. These tests are reducing the richness of human experience and human learning to a number/ set of numbers. A student may have a deep knowledge of a particular subject, but receive no acknowledgement for it because their test score may have been low. Maybe if students could draw a picture, lead a group discussion, or make a hands-on project, they could show all the knowledge that they really have. They cannot do any of these things in a standardized test. As stated before, testing also creates “winners” and losers.” The “winners” get to move on with their life, but the “losers” often suffer from loss of self-esteem and the damage of “low expectations.” Standardized tests do not value diversity either. There are a wide range of differences in the people who take standardized tests. People have different cultural backgrounds, different levels of proficiency in the English language, different learning and thinking styles, different

Standardized testing has become something of a norm under the No Child Left Behind Act. It has left the student and teacher responsible in having high test scores and has forced teachers to teach directly by the curriculum. What standardized testing does do is help develop memory, but at the cost of creativity (Emanuel 9-10). This is the problem behind standardized testing is that it has become linear and obsolete (Emanuel 9-10). It has been noticed by many for example Sir Ken Robinson said,” Testing in principal is a logical way of measuring student knowledge”, but he continues by saying that, “In practice it creates a very dry learning environment”. This shows that the No Child Left Behind Act and standardized testing is not working, but why and how can it be fixed.

The millions of students that have enrolled in the education system predominantly in the United States (either publicly or privately), have represented every single culture and background on this planet. This fact is intended to exemplify the diversity in the type of students in educational institutions and implicitly notions a need for an individualized and non-standardized curriculum. To compensate for the multitude of students, academic professionals who design educational programs resort to many forms of education that do not dwell on the individual, such as standardized testing. With a standardized system, students can lose their feeling of importance and forget the reason why education is relevant to their lives: application. Individual sovereignty, as discussed by Walker Percy in his essay “The Loss of the Creature”, has lost its prevalence in the educational system over the years. In addition, self-motivation and personal hardships that students must deal with on a day-to-day basis, were discussed by Richard Rodriguez in some form in his essay titled “The Achievement of Desire”, are not accounted for in the design of modern-day educational programs. However, the academic professionals who design these curriculums only want what is for the best interests of the students (teaching students the proper coursework and knowledge). So, the “innocence” held by the educators can be derived from many of the principles provided in Patricia Nelson Limerick’s essay titled “Empire of Innocence”. In order to analyze the effects of a standardized testing and the aspects revolved around this, it is important to analyze these three texts to understand what this can mean for the millions of people who have, are currently, and who will be en...

While standardized tests are problematic at all ages and levels of schooling, they are especially questionable in primary grades. In these years children's growth is idiosyncratic (Russel, 2002). Skills needed for school's success are in their most vulnerable stage. Failure at this age can be devastating. 'My six year old is already crying himself to sleep at night worrying about his SATs,' states Mark Adams from BBC news (2003, p.1). It is necessary for teachers, school administrators, and parents to strongly argue that testing in the early years must end and testing in the years following must be reduced.

McNeil, Linda M. "Part I, Part III." Contradictions of School Reform: Educational Costs of Standardized Testing. New York: Routledge, 2000. N. pag. Print.

Put yourself in a high school students shoes. Your main focal points are to do well in school, get good grades, learn new things, make memories, and to have fun. Though many schools place a fun and constructive learning environment over a stressful test based environment, some do not. Schools have made standardized testing their main focus instead of teaching students other equally important skills. ( ProCon. "Standardized Tests - ProCon.org.) Many schools are so focused with test scores that they change their curriculum to include a large amount of test preparation. (ProCon. "Standardized Tests - ProCon.org.) Most schools across America rely heavily on ineffective overuse of standardized testing. The test can be very helpful, but not in intense and stressful situations. (Ravitch.151) Some schools place too much responsibility and accountability on the teachers and educators. (Ravitch.154 ) Critics would argue that certain standardized tests do not meet the qualifications necessary to judge the progress of a student or a teacher. (Ravitch.152 ) Not only is testing used to evaluate a student, but also teacher achievement. (ProCon. "Standardized Tests - ProCon.org.) Holding educators accountable for test scores places an unfair amount of stress on all parties involved, as well as inducing a difficult working atmosphere. (Brill, Allie. "Standardized Testing Leads To Unnecessary Stress On Students, Teachers.") Standardized testing generally imposes harsh consequences that bring many different problems, which often lead to dishonesty and a narrow perception of education from students and educators. (Gatt, Jeneba. "Atlanta's cheating ways: S...

Standardized tests have historically been used as measures of how students are compared with one another or how much of a particular curriculum they have learned throughout the semester or year. Consequently, standardized tests are being used to make major decisions about students, such as grade promotion or high school graduation, and higher education evaluation. Various numbers of students across America have had to repeat classes because of the way standardized tests are used to pass or fail students. Although the tests require students to retain information until the end of the semester, I believe it is wrong to allow just a single test to decide whether an entire semester’s work will be rewarded with the credits that may have been well-earned. Some standardized testing such as the SAT, are not fair to students who may come from a poor educational background and do not retain information as their fellow peers. Students are at a disadvantage if they have test taking anxiety, which is a condition that many students suffer from “a feeling someone might have in a situation where performance really counts or when the pressure's on to do well” (Test Anxiety). Standardized tests give a false pretense of objectivity and consequently of equal opportunity. However, "the only goal of standardized tests is the scoring, which is done by machine" (Facts on Standardized Tests and Assessment Alternatives). It is made clear that the purpose of testing is to provide information to be used in conjunction with, not in pl...

Although there have been legitimate arguments supporting the benefits of standardized testing, such as their ability to successfully measure students’ proficiency, in recent years there have been concerns and disadvantages regarding how their misuse poses a serious threat to the American education system. Despite the belief that standardized tests should be used to measure students’ proficiency, there are more reasons outweighing this statement regarding why they shouldn’t be used for this purpose. Not only is this a particular issue with standardized testing, but the tests are becoming more high stakes and are being used unfairly to determine things such as graduation, or placement in a school, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Testing corporations are also profiting from the design of these standardized tests, while standardized testing is also forcing teachers to all teach the same thing, leading to a lack of creativity in the students. Aside from these arguments, standardized tests have been found to be becoming flawed and have poor design.

Standardized testing is not an effective way to test the skills and abilities of today’s students. Standardized tests do not reveal what a student actually understands and learns, but instead only prove how well a student can do on a generic test. Schools have an obligation to prepare students for life, and with the power standardized tests have today, students are being cheated out of a proper, valuable education and forced to prepare and improve their test skills. Too much time, energy, and pressure to succeed are being devoted to standardized tests. Standardized testing, as it is being used presently, is a flawed way of testing the skills of today’s students.