Response to Blog Question #1: More Standardized Testing

In a time where the issue of standardized testing is being questioned due to its possible bias and unfairness to certain races, it is discussed extensively as to how to improve not only test scores for certain groups, but how to better education as a whole. Freire saw education as a wealth of knowledge waiting to be shared within the community of a classroom. It was not to be used to get ahead or to individualize oneself from another, but to share the intellect we all hold within. It is common knowledge that standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT are to measure one’s knowledge in certain fields, and success on this test ranks the student in comparison to his or her peers. But, who’s to say that a 4.0 student is different in California or in Maine or in Florida or in any other corner of the country? Standardized testing is to set students apart from each other, when all Freire wants is for a teacher and his pupils to share their knowledge. If modern day schools actually resembled these teachings, t
here would be no underperforming schools, or any need to give incentives. This is because one’s knowledge of any material is his or her strength that can be shown off and expressed in the classroom. There is no difference in an education if there is no feeling behind it. A student receiving an education at Harvard or Yale who has no desire to learn or be in the classroom is nowhere as good or as valuable as a student who willingly participates and desires to learn and be in the classroom at the local Junior College. There should be no concern for the education of today’s youth because it is being provided all across the country. It is the lack of participation, teaching, and discussion within the classroom that is hurting today’s society. There is no worry here, nor should there be anywhere else, because as long as education is being provided, every individual should take advantage and strive to take the most out of it.