Students these days are given countless opportunities to take tests, as well as expensive tutoring and classes. Back in the day-as my Dad reminds me daily- they were only given one opportunity to take it, and that was it. Very little stress, or worry.
So today, are standardized tests really give an assesment of intelligence of it simply giving people an opportunity to show of their competitiveness, and their drive. Who will come out on top? A discussion on this very topic can be found here. In our culture we are taught at a young age to not give up; to be the best.
To be "the best?" Or the "best that you can be?"
At what point is the pursuit of success diminishing the abillity to see raw intelligence? The excessiveness of this pursuit is covering up the true test of intelligence. We are fortunate here in the North Shore- most of us consider test tutoring a given. We push ourselves-or rather pay others to push us, in order to embellish our college applications with higher scores, while colleges remain in the dark about how many times a student has taken the test. And believe me, I have fallen victim to this, as I plan my ACT taking process. But, the discussion above makes me wonder if this is fair. We trevians consider tutoriting a normal tool- Who doesn't tutor?
The answer would be many.
Is the ability for some to receive extra help while others can not unjust? Does it make standardized tests prejudice to the fortunate?
I really like this post Allison. Mainly because I feel you pain. I too am angered by these standardized tests. In my opinion, they hardly measure ones intelligence what so ever. I'm a hard worker and a dedicated student, but yet I am told I am dumber than "the kid the with the 36" just because I like to read carefully, and don't have a photographic memory. Tutoring also has a huge part in it. My ACT tutor tells me the weirdest tips about the test that I would never know had she not told me. Is the point of the test to trick us? Or to reward the kids that can afford tutors or the opportunity to take the test 4 times?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I took an ACT prep class earlier this year, and the whole thing was the teacher giving us tricks and tips on how to take the test, and then taking many practice tests, so we could become as familiar as possible with the layout of the test, and the range of questions asked. In my opinion, what helps the most is just taking it many times, and people seem to improve a lot from that, but that is not fair. While some people throughout our country have the opportunity to take the test countless times, some can only take it once, and so are not exposed to the "tricks" a lot of others already know.
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