Dear Future President,

     Throughout my educational career I’ve spent gobs of hours studying and stressing over standardized testing. In 2015, the presidential administration pushed for a reduction in “over-testing” stating that it “takes the joy out of teaching and learning” (Morello). However, I have yet to see any reduction whatsoever. My schoolmates and I have treaded through dozens of standardized tests since the beginning of our high school career. My junior year alone, I was required to take eight tests ranging from the ACT to AP and EOC tests. Reducing the number of standardized tests in school is necessary not only because they interfere with teaching the course curriculum, but because they are weighed much too heavily when considering acceptance into universities, as well as being both unrealistic and irrelevant in the real world.

     I have spent hundreds of dollars on the ACT, sacrificing my time and effort for a test that has absolutely no significance once I graduate high school. The generation that preceded us, our parents, grandparents, they don’t remember taking the ACT or SAT, and if they do they only had to take it once. Our generation, however, has been forced to take it not only once, but multiple times because the world we live in is so much more competitive than it has been in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the premise behind standardized testing. I understand we need to have a standard to compare students, but the truth is it’s impossible to compare students across the country based on a homogenized test. Unless of course you want a nation full of really good test takers who lack in individuality or creativity.

     So why must we place the value of these tests so high when considering acceptance into college? Why do we not place a higher emphasis on grade point average? Shouldn’t the four year GPA of a student reflect much higher on a person’s work ethic than a four-hour test taken early on a Saturday morning? I’ve spent both my junior and senior year building up my ability to take the ACT, and yet, when I go out into the world hunting for a job, how will it have helped me? Employers will never hire me based on whether I can comprehend four passages in 30 minutes, or whether I know what x is equivalent to, but hey, at least I’m a pro at filling in bubbles on an answer sheet!

Sincerely,

William Cooper

Works Cited

Morello, Rachel. "Feds Will Work To Reduce Time Spent on Standardized Testing." StateImpact Indiana RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. Oct. 2016.

"Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing." Columbia University. School and Child Care Service, n.d. Web. Oct. 2016.