WHAT?! YOU MEAN I WAS LIED TOO?!

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS A LIE.

--
_{Tracing is still lame.}

I pick C.

T... tell me I scored well... D:

~Chaos Flower

You did great! Perfect! Good score! *pats you on the head* You're super duper smart!

But 60% of the students didn't pass, so no funding for you next year

--
_{Tracing is still lame.}

If you memorize the correct answer when you get the test back, sometimes... your score doesn't reflect what you know. Because you know more than what the test says at that point.

Stupid tests. D<

--
A comic's awesome factor directly correlates with kicking things in the face. -StarDragonBlue

WARNING: This deviant contains random acts of violence against Cyberdemons. You have been warned.

I joined WeLoveSwords and Saria-Club

That, and you can get answers right by guessing.

There are so many little things that can influence the outcome of a test. I seriously doubt that much genuine reflection of student knowledge comes out of those things.

--
_{Tracing is still lame.}

Eh... I'm kinda stupid... Would you explain the meaning of this to me? I kinda don't get it, because I don't know a thing about the country I live in, sadly. D:
(Like, seriously. >.< I'm not trying to act stupid. I think I need some clarification on the meaning of it.)

I'll try not to go on too long a rant.

A few years back, in 2001, our brilliant President Bush passed the No Child Left Behind act, which was intended to improve the schools. The goal of this act, is, ultimately and I am not making this up, for every student in the USA (including disadvantaged/special ed students) to reach the same standard of reading and math by 2014.

Guess what else it does? When you're a Junior, it hands your information over to the military (unless your school actually tells you and you opt out in time). Keep that in mind. No child left unrecruited, huh?

Anyway, what NCLB actually did was lower the standards. Teachers now teach to the test. Everything is about tests, tests, tests, stupid multiple-choice tests that the fate of our school hangs on. Schools with low scores on the test are punished rather than helped, because they withhold funding from "bad" schools. Nothing is about learning anymore. And because the tests are taken in the later half of the year, teachers are basically being forced to teach an entire school year's worth of information in less than an entire school year.

As a TAG (Talented and Gifted) student, I've also noticed that people like me who actually want to learn are being ignored because teachers are too busy trying to help people who don't care. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, as far as I'm concerned. We can't afford to just let people fail and get held back, even if it is for their own good, because the school is punished every time someone doesn't pass. Everything is pass, pass, pass, nothing about learning. I got an A in my geometry class once, not because I understood anything that was going on, but because I participated.

NCLB can also remove teachers and other staff after a school hasn't met AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) for a certain amount of years in a row. Teachers are pretty much being blamed- and possibly fired- for students' failures to show up to class and work.

So much emphasis is put on the stupid standardized tests that there is little room for real learning. Schools live in fear of not meeting AYP. Some of them have been caught fudging grades just so they can get funding.

Basically it all boils down to something like this humorous little article.

--
_{Tracing is still lame.}

That's ridiculous.

It hands our information to the military?

Though I haven't really noticed so much before, since I got used to being tested in school. (I don't know what's sadder; the fact that I haven't noticed the testing, or my ignorance towards what's going on in this country.) Ugh, that's weird. Now that you've told me, I realize how many times the teachers always tell us that what we're learning is going to be on some big ol' state test at the end of the year or next year.

Thanks for informing me on that. It's about time I learn something about what's going on around me. XP