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Why standardized tests should not be banned
When it comes to high school, many people will think of college exams. In Taiwan, college exams may affect the future of students to some extent. In recent years, however, there have been growing calls against the implementation of standardized tests, saying that standardized tests cannot be used to assess a person's creativity. These people suggest that standardized tests should be eliminated, and we should try to find better alternative. In fact, standardized tests should not be banned mainly because they provide not only a relatively objective evaluation system but also equal opportunities and standards to ensure one's right to education.
One of the reasons why standardized tests should not be banned is that it provides an objective evaluation system. In a standardized test, every examinee is given the same amount of time and the same test sheet with the same questions. Afterwards, the test sheets are fairly graded according to the answers. Due to this mechanism, we can say that standardized tests aim to create an environment where external factors, such as personal connections or socioeconomic status, do not influence the evaluation results. Moreover, in reality, teachers’ grading practices are naturally uneven and subjective. Also, teachers probably have personal biases, whether those are conscious or unconscious toward their favorite students or against rowdy students. However, standardized tests provide an objective way to solve the problem. Aaron Churchill (2015), Ohio Research Director from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, stated that “At their core, standardized exams are designed to be objective measures. They assess students based on a similar set of questions, are given under nearly identical testing conditions, and are graded by a machine or blind reviewer. They are intended to provide an accurate, unfiltered measure of what a student knows.” That means, standardized tests are designed to be the most objective way of evaluating a student's learning ability. What’s more, since 1954, Taiwan has held college exams which has existed for more than four decades. Standardized tests has been going on for such a long period, if it was not applicable, it would not have been used continuously until now. That is, standardized tests' prolonged application reflects its effectiveness and necessity. Overall, we can find that whatever from the aspect of worldwide experience or the aspect of history, standardized tests keep playing a key role for evaluating students' academic performance.
Second, standardized tests aim to provide opportunities for people with educational rights to study, as well as to obtain a diploma. If the national education system cancels standardized testing, many people will lack access to pursue higher education, especially those who are from backgrounds with limited resources. However, uneven resource allocation is a problem that exists in today's society. In this case, it will cause more problems and difficulties for those whose personal resources and abilities are not allowed, and even in the long run, it will cause a problem that many people’s educational levels will end up too low across the country. Furthermore, with standardized tests, people have a standard to be evaluated some qualifications like a diploma of education level. According to a researcher in the field of American educational policy, Richard Phelps (2005), "Standardized tests are used for many purposes. In high-stakes settings, often these tests are used to make critically important decisions. Such decisions include which students are eligible for high school graduation, which applicants pass a licensure test, and who, among the qualified applicants, will receive scholarships or other awards or prizes." We can know that standardized tests are necessary because they are used to evaluate students’ performance and help us decide the admission results. Accordingly, if there are no standardized tests, many people may lack pathways to education, or even lose a complete system to measure people's level of education, which may lead to a decline in the overall educational level of the country.
Some may argue that standardized tests should be banned because it only uses test results to evaluate one's academic performance. Carly Berwick (2019) indicated that "Standardized test scores are easily influenced by outside factors: Stress, hunger, tiredness, and prior teacher or parent comments about the difficulty of the test, among other factors". In short, the tests only show which students are best at preparing for and taking the tests, not what knowledge students may exhibit if their stomachs aren’t empty. However, keeping the body and mind in good condition is also part of preparing for the exam. Someone is good at preparing for the test also has possibility to get a stomachache during the test. Everyone's physical condition should be controlled by themselves, so this is not a good reason to ban standardized tests. Therefore, it is unfair to say that standardized tests only show who is good at taking tests. Besides, the students who good at test also spent relative amount of time studying and working hard to prepare for the exams. To sum up, it is not the case that standardized testing simply reflects who is good at test.
Next, a part of people will say that standardized tests make the students lost the opportunities to cultivate their soft skills. For example, critical thinking, creativity, and so on. However, it may be a fallacy of thought that standardized tests sound dull and uninteresting. In reality, standardized test is not the main cause of our lack of soft skills. We are all students under the standardized examination system, However, we think we have still acquired a lot of soft skills under the standardized examination system. According to the results of our survey, up to 75% of respondents consider that standardized tests do not caused people to lack soft skills such as critical thinking, independent thinking, and innovation. Instead, from the results of our survey indicated that the lack of soft skill may be due to other personally potential factors such as lack of motivation, failure to develop reading habits, or media influence.
In conclusion, standardized testing may not be a perfect system for everyone, but it is necessary because we need a system to assist people in testing their educational level, ensuring their mastery of basic knowledge and achieving the pursuit of advanced knowledge in other fields. To ensure the education process not only establishes more objective testing systems but also provides equal learning opportunities for every student with the right to education, the presence of standardized tests is essential. As a result, we have a firm position to say that standardized tests should continue instead of being banned.
References
Phelps, R. (2005). Defending Standardized Testing. New York: Psychology Press.
Churchill, A., Manno, B. V., Gentles, G., & Malkus, N. (2015). Bless the tests: Three reasons for standardized testing. Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Berwick, C. (2019). What Does the Research Say About Testing? Edutopia.
Google Forms survey results
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