So my research has taken a turn… I was trying to find a new article to do my next blog on when the annoyance of my mom and brother’s screaming voices disrupted my thought process. As I shouted for them to shut up so I could work, I heard my mom whining about how the new common core is stupid. Then I remembered that this was my brothers first year having to do the standardized testing that New York State requires.
When I heard standardized testing, I think of this cartoon:
When I went on Google to find this image, I searched standardized testing and went to images. As I was scrolling through, I noticed many pictures of frustrated kids and many cartoons criticizing this form of tests. This got me thinking; Is standardized testing a form of mind control? Is it just a way for our government to check up on the students and teachers in our country?
I then stumbled upon this fun statistic: The average high school student today has the anxiety level of an average psychiatric patient in the 1950’s. An education researcher Gregory J. Cizek anecdotes about “illustrating how testing… produces gripping anxiety in even the brightest students, and makes young children vomit or cry, or both.”
Is this what my brother has in store? My brother is only nine years old. NINE. And he is worried about a test when he should be out playing on the playground.
ProCon.org. “Standardized Tests – ProCon.org.” ProCon.org. N.p., 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.
Do YOU Feel Safe? 