Annika Peterson
12 April 2018
Americans lives across the United States are connected through one aspect, that aspect
being the education system. The United States, commonly referred to as the superpower of the
are taught all of the same exact concepts. One might say,
not fair, and not all students are the same. Why should
have been created and put into place. These tests consist of
time being and then those facts being thrown out before
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exiting the classroom. Students do not retain a majority of the information that they learn to pass
these tests, when in the long run, it would be better to teach less to these students and have them
remember most of the information rather than cramming all of it down their throats and having
them forget it by the end of the summer. In a personal interview with Brenda Straley, an expert
in the teaching field, she commented that there are overwhelming negative impacts and aspects
of standardized tests. Straley relayed experiences with her previous students expressing that
these tests cause a lot of students and teachers anxiety causing headaches and avoidance of
school.
“Governments claim to want to reduce the number of children being excluded from
school. So why are their curriculums and tests so narrow that they alienate any child whose mind
does not work in a particular way?”(Monbiot). Mobiot in his article continues to talk about the
lack of change in education despite government desires. Over the past 100 years, many aspects
of life have changed and developed. Humans have stepped foot on the moon, Iphones have been
invented, cars have been improved and so on. Almost every aspect of daily life has been
renovated and changed as time has gone by. Yet, education lacks these changes. Yes, schools
utilize more technology and laptops and students can now earn college credit while still in high
school, but the systems and the procedures have not experienced that renovation. Teachers still
use lecture style teaching as was custom for the 1800’s schools.
The purpose of the 19th century schools was to produce factory workers. Workers that
did the job they were told to do. Retaining a similar model for schools today and “having a
single-minded emphasis on STEM risks turning our young people into robots”(Cunha). Colleges
are looking for unique people. Students who have individual talents and go above and beyond.
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Today teachers teach to the test, make all students learn the same things, and simplify curriculum
so that no child is left behind. Expecting students to make a good impression on colleges while
teaching that life is fair, and that no work or retainment of knowledge is required after tests is
outrageous. Schools create standardized students for an individualized world. Future employers
are not going to want employees that throw away what they learned throughout the week during
the weekends. Jane Greenway Carr expresses her concern that schools are at “risk of of
eradicating differences in students” (Carr). The many years of schooling are not helping students
prepare for college or life. Colleges want the above and beyond students. How can we expect
students to go above and beyond if all we do is teach the basics to pass a standardized test.
Closely observing schools across america, it is evident that these schools are setting up students
to fail, rather than letting them fail on their own and learning from their mistake of misbehavior.
Failure is the best teacher. Yet all through school, teachers feel as if they cannot allow students
to fail because they came crying to a teacher to let them retake the test to get their grade up.
To provide for an alternative way of testing, George Monbiot considers how if in real
life, working is all about collaboration and teamwork, why then is working in groups and with
others on tests and exams considered cheating (paragraph 3). This is teaching students to be
independent, which may not be a completely bad thing. A problem arises when in twenty years
they are working and do not know how to ask for help on something that they do not fully
understand or on something that they need help on. Students are not learning that everyone has
their strengths and their weaknesses, these strengths and weaknesses should be used to
The phrase, great minds think alike is often stated. Although this may be true in some
instances, great minds are really those that do not think like everyone else. In the 1800’s before
the discovery of the light bulb, there were many great thinkers. Not all of them had the idea to
create a lightbulb. One of them did, but not all of them had that same exact idea. Each great
thinker had other ideas of their own. People are individual and these differences should be
celebrated and used to help create something new. “ [M]any school leaders have become so
unwilling or unable to broaden our view of the purpose of an education”(Grinell and Rabin 748).
The future of the United States lies in the hands of public schools and educators, education
should take the responsibility of taking the knowledge and uniqueness of each person and rethink
the way that students are tested, how they are prepared for college and life, and how students are
taught.
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Sources
Carr, Jane Greenway. “Why Are American Schools Obsessed With Turning Kids Into Robots?”
Cunha, Darlena. “The Educational Strategy That's Turning Students into Unimaginative
DeSilver, Drew. “U.S. Students' Academic Achievement Still Lags That of Their Peers in Many
Grinell, Smith and Colette Rabin. "Modern Education: A Tragedy of the Commons." Journal of
Curriculum Studies, vol. 45, no. 6, Dec. 2013, pp. 748-767. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1080/00220272.2013.813079.
Harris, Karen H. and Wilma S. Longstreet. "Alternative Testing and the National Agenda for
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=9705111327&site=ehost-live
Monbiot, George. “In an age of robots, schools are teaching our children to be redundant.” The