Implementing
standardized tests in college hurts us
all
Katie
Plourd
Do
you recall the jovial sentiment you felt
after completing the last Advanced Placement
exam you took during your senior year
of high school? Or the last SAT, ACT,
college placement exam or any standardized
test for that matter? Never again would
you have your abilities measured from
a test generated to efficiently, so they
say, measure the abilities of the masses — until
now.
According to an article in the New York Times this month, Charles Miller, chairman
of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, who was appointed by President
George W. Bush, is proposing to create a “nationwide system for comparative
performance purposes, using standard formats.”
In other words, another standardized test.
Miller was head of the Regents at the University of Texas where they implemented
a similar testing program. The tests were implemented to verify \students were
learning.
Don’t get me wrong; higher education should be all about learning, but
two things concern me with this proposal and if there is a way to measure how
well universities accomplish this, by all means let’s do it, but standardized
tests are not the way to judge learning.
First, the efficiency of standardized tests to prove learning is ineffectual.
Coming from an admittedly horrible test taker, I don’t believe standardized
tests actually measure intelligence. They are un-reliable, can often be biased
and lack the objectivity necessary to have a fair test measuring universal
intelligence.
Also, standardized tests do not yield an accurate measurement of student performance.
They do not accurately measure a student’s ability to write an analytical
argument, apply math skills, comprehend meaning of texts, grasp scientific
methods, think rationally, apply reasoning or grasp the importance of social
concepts. Above all, they do not measure what people can do in real-world situations
or their designated career fields.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that not the essential objective pursuing
higher education seeks to achieve?
I scored barely an 1100 on the SAT in high school. Our own president topped
me by only 166 points. Somehow he has managed to snag the most powerful job
in the nation despite dismal scores.
It is outlandish that admission to higher education requires students to attain
a certain score on tests like the SAT or ACT to get into college and now to
measure the status of learning in higher education.
The second cause of my concern is the repercussions that would occur to the
universities that receive low test scores.
Will we see a program such as the “No College Kid Left Behind Act,” which
would cut funding for schools whose test scores aren’t up to par? Will
potential students be discouraged to apply to universities that don’t
have high test scores for fear of not getting a sound education?
Our universities cannot risk turning people away.
Another thing our universities cannot risk is being forced to universalize
education to fit inside the box of a general test.
Diverse thinking is a concept the minds in our country lack. Imagine if someone “thought
outside the box” when officials asserted Saddam Hussein possessed weapons
of mass destruction and the United States must initiate a pre-emptive attack
in Iraq. There was clearly a hole of analytical and critical thinking on the
part of our American officials. The result: well, I think we all know the answer
to that.
It is one thing to require high school students to pass general tests in order
to graduate, but to judge college student’s level of learning by these
tests is detrimental to the necessary thinking our society needs.
Education initiatives such as this fall in line with many of the other initiatives
the administration puts forward. They are as practical and useful as tits on
a bull.
I
am a student who believes education, especially
higher education, is fundamental to the
future of our nation. It is not general
education required courses or material
on standardized tests that prepare college
students for the careers they will embrace.
It is critical thinking, elaborate discussion with professors and other students,
and analysis of current events that enhance knowledge.
It is disconcerting that our government passes legislation to raise interest
rates on student loans as means to decrease the federal deficit while at the
same time puts funding into education programs that discourage students from
seeking higher education.
The students in higher education are part of the generation that will be leading
our country in the years to come. We now have a president who scored a measly
1266 on his SAT, but imagine a president who didn’t even go to college
at all.
Katie Plourd is a senior journalism major and the managing editor of
the Daily Forty-Niner. |
