Assessments

Hi Everyone,

I believe that if anything, children should be measured for things such as; creativity, endurance, self-esteem, creative thinking skills and etc. I think we should look at ways to help children learn to be self-sufficient, happy, positive people in the world. I think when we look at the "whole child" many things are considered. Standardized test have taken over the classrooms in the United States. Many schools only focus on those standardized test and there is just so much else for them to be focusing on. I believe this is why the United States fall far behind some other countries.

However, I wanted to take a look at how China assessed children because I have always heard that their children perform very well academically. To my surprise I found out that they are strictly standardized in their assessment of children. They have a test called the "gaoka" that is the only determination as to whether a child goes on to college. But, I did read that the leaders of China are pushing for this strict implementation of standardized testing to be changed.

Additionally, I would like to say that many people find standardized testing appropriate. I personally do not think that some of those test are fair. A lot of those test have questions on them that are from ancient times. Some of the content on these test are about things that only a select number of children have ever heard of. The question for me is, how can you make a standardized test fair? I do not believe this is possible.