Dear Future President,

I am writing you today because I am very passionate about standardized testing. Not so much in a good way. I hope that by giving my opinion, you will realize that people really do struggle with standardized tests. You don’t really know how many people do struggle with tests. I hope that when you read this, you will realize how passionate I am about this topic.

Standardized testing needs to change for many different reasons. One of the first reasons out of many, is that standardized testing puts kids that have a lower income at many different disadvantages. For example, researchers have stated that “tests like the ACTs and SATs put low-income and minority students at significant disadvantages and have resulted in a lack of diversity at the nation's four-year colleges”. People have many unfair disadvantages when it comes to standardized testing. It doesn’t just affect them but it affects so many people that just simply struggle in school.

I am so passionate about this topic because like I said, it doesn’t just affect the people with a low income, problems at home, people around the country, it also affects me. Testing doesn’t show any of these examples; creativity, motivation,critical thinking, endurance, leadership, courage, compassion, achievement, curiosity, reliability, empathy, civic mindedness, honesty, and integrity. First, tests can measure only a portion of the goals of education, which are necessarily broader and more inclusive than the test could possibly be. Testing does only not show these abilities of people, but it also gives people anxiety and can easily stress people out. People like me tend to work themselves up to think that they aren’t smart enough to do something. It makes people feel like they have no talents and it also makes people feel like they aren’t going to achieve anything in life. If people were tested on what they truly know or what their level of learning is, testing would show everyone's strengths, not their weaknesses. People would feel more confident about themselves. I know that if I got tested on my true abilities of learning, I would do so much better on standardized testing.

Some people may say that testing shows everything that someone needs to show, how much ability they have, their ability to remember things, or how much “intelligence” they have. My opinion is that If we got rid of standardized testing, people wouldn’t have so much anxiety and stress, people would be confident in the work they put towards school. I also believe that I don't think classes should be labeled. For example, people get put into “honors” classes or some people like me, get put into the “lower” classes. Basically, a test puts you into a class and they think they know what you capable of knowing but, they really don't.

We could easily fix standardized testing if you, future president, would eliminate these test . There are many ways to possibly get rid of these, for example, we could get a bunch of different people’s stories and made a website or, put everyone's stories somewhere that people would see. I believe if we did that, people would get that so many people struggle with these test. People would do so much better in school if we got rid of them. I do not test well. I know way more than I do on a test and I know what I am capable of. Every time I test, I know that I am not going to either pass it or get higher than an “average” score. I also think that I am not going to get into a college that I know fits me best. I work so hard in school, then I take a test and it makes it look like I didn’t put any hard work into this test. Like I said I know it doesn’t only affect me, it affects so many people in our country. I think we need to get rid of these as soon as possible so the next generation knows what they can do. We need to get them to know they are smart in their own ways.

I really hope that you, future president, will make a difference with standardized testing but, will make a change in everyone’s life. I hope that my words spoke to you. You aren’t the only one that should try to make the change, everyone else can help make the change by speaking out or, by giving their own opinions about standardized testing.

Sincerely,

Olivia 

Soares, Joseph. "SmallerLarger Standardized Tests Discriminate Against Minority and Lower Income Students." N.p., n.d. Web.