The Evils of Standardized Testing
             Everyone sat there in nervous anticipation as the large white envelopes were passed out. Why were these scores so important to our futures? The guidance counselors had drilled into our heads that without these test scores we would not get into college. If the grades were so important, why was I so calm? I did not experience nervous anticipation since I had opted not to take the SAT's. Although at that point, I was trying to figure out exactly why I felt so insecure with my decision. Now here I am at college pursuing a teaching degree in elementary education, without taking the SAT's. Is that possible?
             Currently, I am in the process of becoming a teacher. Therefore, the issue of state standards and assessments in schools is very pertinent to me. I am going to have to teach the future generations that will be judged according to standardized tests.
             Many of the tests that I have taken in school are tests that measure fixed understandings. Instead, these tests should be finding the true abilities of a student. On the surface, the objective measures of today's standardized tests sound sensible. In theory, they give every student a solid picture of achievement, and an equal opportunity for advancement. But after years of rote memorization and drills, what were once intellectually excited and motivated five-year-olds have become bored or grade-obsessed teenagers. Their thrill over accomplishing real tasks and exhibiting real skills is replaced with anxiety over upcoming tests and a concern for high grades.
             It is my opinion that many of our children and young adults are cut short by our means and standards of testing in the schools. Stop Standards and Testing states, "It is our belief that the perpetual push to "raise the bar" is killing our schools by suffocating the life and creativity out of them" ("Stop S
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