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It is a widely known fact that many people, national and international, are quite upset and/or comically amused at the American Education System. What many people fail to point out is what exactly is wrong, why those problems exist and how one should generally go about fixing them. From small debate over school uniforms to children being expelled for eating their poptart into the shape of a “gun”, it is quite obvious that the public school system is rife with flaw (as any system naturally ought to be) but yet has not taken kindly to any of the proposed solutions, such as Common Core. Between standardized testing, an all­too­theocratic view towards the Grade Point Average and a caste system of regular and “Advanced Placement” students, it is quite surprising that widespread reform has not been enacted by this critically dangerous time. Students today face an unnaturally high amount of standardized testing, combined with the “rigorous course work” which often amounts to nothing but pointless busy work to keep them quiet. Not only was there the standardized AIMS test of times past, but now there is the dreadfully dull replacement, the AZ Merit test, which probably predicts a student’s intelligence as well as a horse can thread a needle. We spend so much time comparing our kids to predetermined standards that supposedly show our children’s intelligence and help enhance their education, while America slipped internationally from rank 18 to rank 31 in math (from 2002­2011) according to the PISA charts1 . And schools have started to cut out course work with monotonous test preparation, even allocating over two hours per day to test prep2 and ignoring the 1st year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks because of said test prep3 . It also doesn’t appeal to this age’s feminist and equality movement, as the game­like nature of scoring points and winning is shown to have a natural bias towards males4 . The testing also causes unnecessary stress in the student population, which can affect their test scores and also skew test results. It is also known that schools that don’t perform well are subject to closure, causing teachers to cheat the system5 to keep their jobs. And while all of this is happening, Finland tops the PISA charts without any standardized testing6 . While it is true that many teachers and administrators approve of standardized testing7 and that multiple choice tests are now more accurate than ever8 , it would seem that this improvement of the tests is not translating to an improvement in our test scores. And with the American education system in the critical state it is in, anything that isn’t improving our comprehension needs to be abolished. 1
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http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011004.pdf​
, page 33 ​
Meredith Kolodner, "Students, Teachers Sweating High­stakes Tests as Parents Rebel Against Constant Prep,” ​
Daily News​
, May 3, 2011 3
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Diana Jean Schemo, "Vigilance and Memory: The Schools; For Some Students, Attacks Lose Their Grip,”​
New York Times​
, Sep. 12, 2002 4
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Peter Sacks, ​
Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It​
, 2001 5
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Greg Toppo, "Memo Warns of Rampant Cheating in D.C. Public Schools," usatoday.com, Apr. 11, 2013 2
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Linda Darling­Hammond & Laura McCloskey, "​
Assessment for Learning Around the World: What Would It Mean to Be 'Internationally Competitive?​
'" (216 KB) , www.stanford.edu (accessed April 27, 2015) 7
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Stuart S. Yeh, "​
Limiting the Unintended Consequences of High­Stakes Testing​
" (204 KB) , ​
Education Policy Analysis Archives​
, Oct. 28, 2005 8
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Ruth Mitchell, "A Guide to Standardized Testing: The Nature of Assessment,” www.centerforpubliceducation.org, Feb. 15, 2006 Some will argue that standardized testing is important because we need to have a benchmark for our students to aspire to, and I agree unconditionally. But it is the way that we go about setting this benchmark that is the problem here. Let us take a look at NASA, for example. The broad range of genius that was housed inside Houston Space Center in the 50’s and 60’s was astounding, showing the mental and economic prowess of the American nation in an age of increasing hostility. But these men did not have a standardized test to tell them they were intelligent, rather, not as we define a standardized test today. Their test was complex, requiring years of planning and execution of every man and woman to complete. It was a test stressing every aspect of their knowledge in order to achieve an as­yet unattainable goal; their standardized test was to put a man on the moon. And how do we know we passed? Because there is yet another entity of any sort to have achieved that task. But even after standardized testing is abolished, it is hard to imagine the intense problems and hard lifestyles that drive a child to shoot his fellow classmates, but yet it is a fate that is all too common in today’s world. School shootings are an increasing danger to the United States and are not something to be taken lightly. There is a common false belief that the gunmen are often lonesome, solitary kids who don’t talk to anyone until they snap. But the truth is that these kids consistently try to join groups and are unconditionally rejected, time and time again, until their last act is to get their needed attention by talking of plans to shoot up the school9 . These kids often start with clowning around, messing with kids and eventually start to talk about their plans for a shooting spree just to get attention, and students often do not have to be told who was the shooter.10 Journalist Anna Quindlen explains her belief that psychological evaluation could help stem the tide, giving example of the illogical and violent acts performed by children with known psychological vulnerabilities, such as Sam Manzie, who strangled and molested an 11­year old boy who was fundraising for his school. And with the tragedy at Columbine High School (not to mention Sandy Hook or other school shootings), we are not short of evidence that the mental health of our students is declining. With a rigid class structure, students are not only divided between “seniority” levels of Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior, but are also divided between Advanced Placement, band geek, nerd, jock, hipster, stoner and many more tragic categories. This often leads to intense stress and bullying, and the obvious favoritism towards the Advanced Placement and the athletes of the school has led to students feeling inadequate all the way to preschool 11 . Now, so as not to contradict myself with my own words, it is time to explain just how we should go about solving these problems of ludicrous standardized testing and rampant psychological issues in our schools. Standardized testing is a flawed concept that doesn’t work well with American culture. America is a country based on innovation, entrepreneurial dreams and revolutionary thinking that is laced heavily throughout our governing document, the Constitution of the United States. We are a nation that has produced great men, like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Andrew Carnegie not with our excelling math scores, but 9
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/06/why­school­shootings­happen­how­stop­them.html http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/06/why­school­shootings­happen­how­stop­them.html 10
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Gesell Institute, "​
Gesell LEAD Press Conference: Study Results​
” (81 KB) , www.gesellinstitute.org, Oct. 14, 2010 rather with our inherent American Ingenuity that prevails in the face of adversity. It is hard to argue that quality American education drove the success of the founders of Chick­fil­A and Microsoft, yet it is inversely true that these men were driven by a desire to succeed and the critical thinking skills to achieve it. These men did not build their fortune upon trigonometric functions or the aspects of the rough endoplasmic reticulum on the processes of the cell; rather, these men were driven by intense passion and creativity that is a cornerstone piece of American culture. Some of these men left their high schools to pursue their own works, and likely were not drawn back to the school after reminiscent thoughts of being stuffed into lockers and having their lunch money stolen. And the children of today, who will be the adults of tomorrow, will not think fondly of their time spent on the AIMS or the Merit tests; rather, they will use the failures of today as an example to remodel the future and repair the damage wrought by the ignorant generations that came before. Because, even after the devastation of the standardized tests, poor education systems and slothful governmental bureaucrats, we will use what knowledge that has been successfully imparted to us to bring about that change that is so desperately needed, from the American education system to the world itself.