"Measuring" Academic Ability

The social structure of our education system is, as the book describes it, "a reality that determines life chances and choices." This plays out to be completely true in my experience as a student as well as lives of my closest friends and classmates.

Ever since my days in middle school at St. Anthony, I was becoming familiar with what it meant to, "Start preparing for the ACT." This sentence seemed to repeat in my mind but I never quite understood why it needed to be so, say, engraved in me... until I reached high school. It was in high school that that phrase suddenly turned into anxiety provoking- An immediate stressor.

High school in general is a critical time in an individual's life. For me, there seemed to be a sudden shift in priority. This time was no longer about expanding my group of friends, placing 1st or 2nd at my varsity gymnastics meets, shopping for prom dresses, searching for dates, but rather looking ahead to what I want to be for the rest of my life. My future. In the midst of discovering and becoming who you are, you are pulled from what comes naturally and forced to fit into a desired academic standard. The idea of homework, projects, papers that were assigned became merely impossible to accomplish because you knew teachers are grading harder than ever with a standard in mind. The task itself became scary. Almost as if you want to turn away and not try at all... anything to avoid the sight of a not passing grade on an assignment. Why was this so dreadful? The grades in high school are what make up your GPA whose partner in crime is the ACT and this dreadful duo determines your acceptance into colleges in which your career then crashes or fails! Every piece to the puzzle needed to be completed at your highest academic ability. But how is it that education systems across the country can sufficiently demonstrate each students academic ability? The point is-They can't.

Standardized tests are a quick and easy way of gaging where schools and students are at academically. However, the time restraint and strict environment in which one must perform this test is not in the slightest natural or calming and thus, not a great representation of one's academic ability. From my personal experience, the amount of anxiety and stress that this test caused me in the preparation stage was insane. After 3:00 AM the night before I was scheduled to take the exam, I had to take one of my mom's sleeping pills to literally knock me out and ensure at least four hours of sleep that night. Needless to say, the stress and anxiety dragged along with the standardized testing directly effected my test taking ability the next morning, for I was exhausted and by no means mentally at reset. Once I arrived in the unfamiliar classroom with unfamiliar faces, desks, clocks, papers, voices, there was never a point reached where I felt calm or at ease. The intensity of these teachers watching over you like hawks and working against the clock sets nearly everyone up for a worse performance on such an exam.

There are so many variables that are not taken into account when one is given a standardized exam. First of all, what type of intelligence is one measuring? When would street smarts or common sense come into play within the substance of the exam? Because I definitely think those characteristics are important aspects of an intelligent human being as well as features that colleges would find important upon accepting students into their academy. However, those aspects are not in the slightest accounted for. They are shadowed and looked over. Ones ability to maintain composure under stressful conditions seems to be the most accurate measurement of standardized tests.

Furthermore, it is obvious that the structure of education in the contemporary US has shaped me into the student that I am. The ways in which aspects of an individual's intelligence is evaluated could use some improvement to say the least. I hope that the future holds a better solution, one which is less stressful and demanding, in assessing the academic success of students upon acceptance into colleges. It is sad to think that because of the requirements and standards of these tests, some of the brightest individuals may be overlooked.