2). Instead of searching for a better educational environment, students look for better tests numbers. Lang Wood goes on by stating “Students can easily become discouraged and negative about education in general, which affects their learning ability” (par. 2). In addition to what Lang Wood believes, Stephens claims, students who are taking the test suffer from stress in result of worrying about passing it.
They stress day and night over these overrated tests, like previously stated channeling out the imagination, curiosity and good will. Besides being an imprecise measure for students, they use them to judge a teacher’s performance as well, essentially used to either reward or punish them. Standardized test are not helping us very much right now. In conclusion, the usage of standardized tests should be discontinued or by the very least lessened. These tests are not helping people, it’s initially having a negative effect on students and teachers.
I mean, sure, grades are very motivational, but they are also very harming. Countless suicides are caused by grades and pressure, and I think it just really isn’t necessary to put a student on the spot like that. Let’s say a student makes straight A’s. That’s great in most cases, but does it really self-motivate the student into learning more, or does it give them a little lee-way to slack off and maybe not study as much? Or let’s say that a student gets straight C’s.
NCLB was established so that students were not held back in a grade and were promoted to the next grade. I think this is a political aspect that is failing our students. If a student is not understanding the material or doesn’t pass the tests showing that they understand and can retain the information, I don’t believe that they should be promoted. I believe that it only hurts the students because they get more behind as they advance through the levels. The ethical issues that regard the high stakes testing is that it could be unfair to some students.
More so, it is being done internally by teachers (Falk, 616). The stakes are so high they manipulate test results by keeping certain students out of the testing environment. It has been reported that kids were purposely held back so that their performance will not bring down the test scores that the more intelligent students submit. I agree with that Lindsay Jillson argues about how standardized testing has jeopardized a student’s future because of the sanctions that are given to them for being less intelligent. I just do not understand why the main focus of our education has to be all about test.
Students need structure. Structure in the classroom will cause self motivation in students. Also, students don't like being held accountable for their actions. Having to talk to students about why they didn't finish their assignments will motivate them to do their work. Most students try to avoid being lectured or get in trouble for something they can avoid.
Flunking students can be used as a positive tool by our education system. The consequence of flunking and holding students back alone can be used to motivate and encourage students to put full effort into class work. Most students fear flunking only because they’re afraid of what friends, peers and society will say or think about them; this is all wrong, the real fear should be failing and not being
There is usually bullying in schools, but something that not everyone knows is that there is also racism going on in schools everyday. There are students and teachers that are racist and that should not be acceptable. A very popular racist phrase is “go back where you came from” that phrase is disrespectful in so many ways. America is supposed to be the land of opportunities not the land to be bullied because of your race. Kids go to school to learn and be successful, but how can they achieve anything when they are constantly being bashed on.
There are some major problems with using them. Students with high I.Q’s are expected to do better than the rest of their class, and on the flip side students with low I.Q.’s are expected to do worse. That is not always fair because students with low I.Q.’s might not get the attention needed simply because their teachers do not expect much from them. In the end there is no fairness to some. This leads to an ethical question of, is giving an intelligence test ethical?
These are prime examples of the lack of effectiveness of these policies. They are so extreme that they begin to cause more negatives instead of positives. Those students who are suspended or expelled for minor actions or ones that they are not truly guilty of while fall behind in their school work. Being behind in their classes could lead to discouragement to continue to work