Is yearly standardized testing doing more harm than good? Is that super long boring test accurate at measuring what percent goo and what percent genius you have in your head?

     This test has been given yearly to every kid, in every school, in every state, since 2002. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated yearly standardized testing in all 50 states. You'd think by now it would be perfected. These standardized tests have made teachers change how they teach. Now, instead of teaching kids what they need to know, their teaching strategies that revolve around their students passing the tests. Some may even go as far as to say the tests are turning us (students) into cheaters. Are these tests even teaching us what we need to know? 

       Standardized tests are meant to measure how smart we are, right? Here's the issue with that. We are taught to do good on the test. The test is not measuring our intelligence. The test is measuring how much you remember or understand what you were told about the test. Ah, the flaws in the system. We need to do something about how we are being taught. We need to know how to divide our money, not find out how many apples Sally bought at the store on Saturday. These kinds of things we're practicing for tests will not help us in the real world. Sally and her trip to the supermarket will not shape the next generation of Americans so we can be successful and find careers. We need new curriculum. Teach us the things we need to know. Gauge our intelligence by how we succeed, not by how many things we remember.