by Carrie Weitz

Created on: September 28, 2008

If we allow ourselves to believe that a proper education is measured by the ability to regurgitate facts, increasing standardized testing may very well enable us to meet performance goals. If we remain loyal to the concept of education as fostering the act of learning, reaching meaningful understanding and applying knowledge, additional standardized testing will continue to provide us with children who struggle to find their way after graduation.

Standardized tests focus overwhelmingly on math and language skills. There should be little argument that these subjects weigh heavily in the understanding of most others. The emphasis is not necessarily misplaced, but miscalculated. In fruitless attempt to meet unobtainable national goals, schools are given no choice but to shave as much as they can from the rest of the curriculum in order to prepare students to make their school appear effective on paper. When the goals are not met, instead of re-examining the goal, schools are expected to try harder, focus more intensely, and eliminate more "distractions" with even less funding.

Faced with these unreasonable expectations, educators are left with little choice but to develop and implement plans that shift their purpose from producing able learners to producing statistics. When some schools do manage to improve their test scores this way, it is considered a success, and a model that all schools should adopt with equal results. But at what expense?

When a child is raised to value math and language as the ultimate goal, accepting all other subjects as afterthoughts, is it fair to consider them well-educated? When students are trained to believe their futures ride completely on these tests, can we trust that they will be prepared to self-evaluate and be evaluated by others in a world where goals aren't always concrete and success isn't always measured in hard numbers? Most importantly, is it desirable to eventually turn the country over to a generation of people who may be able to read and compute (we hope), but has never been encouraged to deeply explore the effects of world history, devote their energy to a branch of science, discover their passion in the humanities, or nurture their talent in the arts?

The public school system is struggling in all of these areas, and it has been for some time. As long as free-thinking people exist, opinions on the best remedy will vary. Each idea will come with its own pros and cons. In the case of standardized testing, the cons are stripping our students of a whole education, redefining the teaching profession, and transforming our schools into factories. An increase in testing carries the very real risk of producing a nation of facts without substance.

When the emphasis on learning replaces the emphasis on scores, students will have the opportunity to nurture their specific talents and reach their greatest potential. When each student is encouraged to grow in multiple areas, measuring achievement in personal improvement rather than percentage comparisons, education will have taken place. When education is taking place, we can rest assured that our country will be provided with inquisitive, capable, confident citizens who will be able to work together and make full use of their combined areas of strength.

Learn more about this author, Carrie Weitz.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.