Standards & Testing

It has been pretty clear throughout The Flat World in Education that there are major flaws in our education system. I believe that the government is trying to remedy these problems through the only ways they know how ... come up with new rules or requirements also known as standards and then collect data to ensure that the standards are being met through testing.

I honestly believe that this idea started with the best intentions but has snowballed into a serious issue in education. Standards drive what is tested which is important to ensure that the students are learning what the standards say they need to know. But the testing drives how school receive funds from the government. Because school are in such need of money in order to operate they focus in on only what is being tested and teach students how to answer questions like those they will see on the test. Students therefor miss out on anything that is not being tested and cannot respond to a question unlike one on the test. This system is creating students that are learning a portion of the curriculum they should and cannot think critically.

I believe that it is important to have learning goals that are clear. It is helpful for both students and teachers to know what they are working towards. I believe that having state and national standards is a transparent way to make goals for our entire education system. It is good for all students to have the same general learning goals so that all of the students in our country ideal have the same knowledge. The biggest problem with our standards is that there are too many goals every year. Other more successful countries have found that having fewer goals and teaching and learning those goals more in depth is more beneficial to the students.