Standardized Testing Argumentative Essay

For example, a country that has gotten rid of standardized testing yet still exceeds in academics is Finland. Finland produces some of the top students, and they have been surpassing us in education for years, yet they have no annual standardized tests, and the way they test for quality is assessments throughout the year. About 40 years ago, their school system got transformed as a key propellant of the country’s economic recovery plan. Finland had no idea how successful it would be until 2000, when the results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), revealed that the Finnish youth were the best readers in the world. Then in 2003, they were the best in math and in 2006 they were the first out of 57 countries in science (Hancock). The students couldn’t have done it on their own. The teachers over in Finland do whatever …show more content…
The exam only measures the competence of the student during the time of testing and not during the course of a year, and since it only measures the proficiency of the student during time of testing, the outcome of the exam should not dictate your future. Also these standardized tests do not measure other qualities such as creativity, resourcefulness and critical thinking. According to eCampusTours, “Standardized testing impedes the assessment of a very important skill. For the most part, standardized tests hinder any sort of creative out-of-the-box thinking, which is a skill needed in college and in the workplace” (“ECampusTours.com.”). This just shows that the exams are unreliable because it doesn’t allow out of the box thinking which is a useful skill in college and it just creates a dull atmosphere. Standardized testing also encourage a mindset that there are only two options to every problem. It’s either right or wrong, and that does not apply to “real-life”