Like skills are needed to make the most out of your life. The most critical life skills to have are communication and interpersonal skills, decision-making and problem solving, creative thinking and critical thinking, self-awareness and empathy, assertiveness and self-control, resilience, and the most important one is the willingness to learn.
At high schools across the country, tests are provided to show what the student knows. Test-taking shows how well the student understands the topic which is not a critical life skill. Different tests given in high schools include quizzes, minor assessments, major assessments, and exams. These tests do not evaluate and utilize life’s most essential skills.
Students are expected to memorize more than sixty biology terms or the whole periodic table for a test. Less than a quarter of employees use calculations more complicated than basic fractions. Students should be learning how to pay taxes instead of solving equations that won´t be used later on. Information students are being tested on are not important for their future life so students should have to be tested on such things.
Testing puts a lot of pressure on students and causes stress and anxiety. Many students experience test anxiety because they are nervous about recalling learned material. Test anxiety causes students to blank out and not remember anything they have learned or studied. Approximately 25-40% of students in the U.S. suffer from test anxiety.
Students shouldn’t have to worry about what will happen if they receive a bad grade on something that will never be used in the future. Students can know everything about a certain subject, but then when it comes to the test, they forget it all. The student then receives a low grade and they receive no credit for what they have learned.
Different options are available to show what a student knows. Many students enjoy group projects. This is a great way to show what the students have learned. Students collaborate and use teamwork, a critical life skill, to come together and show what they know. Even students participating in class should receive a good grade. By participating in class, show that you are willing to learn, which is the most important life skill.
Kira Kaprelian, a junior at Leesville said, “I don’t like test taking at all, I’ll like know the material beforehand but then I forget it when taking the test. I would rather present something than take a test.”
Tests should no longer be a way of showing what students have learned. Testing is not a reasonable, nor efficient way of evaluating a student.
Im Kayla Wozniak, a staff writer for the newspaper. I love playing sports and having fun!
Fantastic topic and interesting point of view. I think there is a place for tests, along with other ways of assessing students. It shouldn’t be the only way. Learning, recalling, applying information taught are life skills also and a way to confirm that educational material has been learned.