Standardized Tests: Why Are They So Important?
The first thing you think of when college admissions comes to mind is probably the SAT. You know it’s coming. You can feel it. When you walk into that little room with 25 other random people, you know that those few hours could possibly determine your entire future. Many kids feel that this pressure is really unneeded but really this kind of test is necessary. But why?
First off, there are many other standardized tests besides the SATs given out to students. They include the GREs, ACTs, SAT IIs, and many other give out during lower grade levels. But the SAT is usually the most important for the largest amount of students. Most schools won’t accept your application without SATs scores attached in one form or another. Some schools have gotten away from this, but those are being looked down upon by the masses.
So why are these tests really that important in the first place? Obviously the main reason is that it’s really hard to differentiate between the kids from many different schools. Some kids may have just gotten bad grades because of an extremely tough group of teachers while others may have had simple classes where A’s were just handed out by the dozen. Standardized tests provide a level playing field for the students from many different backgrounds.
There’s also another reason that many people simply don’t want to broach. There is the idea that many teachers encourage class participation and kissing up which is all well and good but that doesn’t measure how smart a student actually is. There are always going to be kids that receive higher grades than they should just because they become good friends with the teacher. Is this right? No, but it’s just the way it goes in high schools across America.
The SAT strives to weed out these kids and the many others who have just become “products of the system.” Schools will always have kids who do better than they should but standardized tests are working their way through these people, trying to make sure that only the purest of intellect is being measured. That’s the way it should be so don’t hate on standardized tests.
