President Barack Obama recently made a statement saying how students are spending too much time in the classroom taking tests, many of which are unnecessary. Obama is urging officials in charge of the country’s school system to lessen the exams which students are taking. He said these tests have taken away too much valuable time, time that could have been better spent developing a kid’s creativity. President Obama recommended limiting standardized exams to no more than 2 percent of a student’s instructional time in the classroom.
Obama also said that testing shouldn’t “crowd out teachers and learning.” It should be one of many tools used to measure how students and schools are performing. He added that students should only be taking tests that are worth taking; tests that are high quality and aimed with good instruction, to ensure that students are “on track.”
With that, Obama has planned to meet with teachers and representatives of states and school districts to discuss the issue involving these standardized exams.
One thing the president has trouble doing is pleasing each political party; however with standardized testing each political party should, and most likely will be satisfied. Whether you are liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, anyone can agree with Obama’s decision involving exams in school.
This has been a problem for many years. Students become overly stressed when hearing about exams they have to take in order to graduate. If a student has a perfect 4.0 GPA and they fail the PARCC exam, they won’t be able to graduate until they pass the exam — which, according to Obama, is ridiculous.
In a video posted on Facebook, Obama said, “Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble. So we’re going to work with the states, school districts, teachers and parents to make sure that we are not obsessing about testing.”
Personally, as a student, I think this is a great idea. And no, it isn’t because I hate taking the SAT or PARCC; it’s because I don’t think it’s fair or necessary. If I fail the PARCC, is it really fair that I won’t be able to graduate because of one test? I understand how the SAT, ACT and other exams are needed for the school board and colleges. But why do teachers make us feel like it’s the end of the world if we fail? Shouldn’t we be worrying about the actual course we’re taking, and the units in that course rather than one final exam? I mean, yes, it’s important, but it’s not necessary to make teens stress about one extra thing. It’s just too much.
President Barack Obama is planning to make remarkable changes involving these exams. But to do so, the teachers and administrators have to understand the unnecessary stress students are going through just to pass one test, rather than their required classes taken throughout the year.
