I think standardized testing is a good idea if the test does, in fact, determine how well the testee knows the subject. The problem comes in when schools decide to teach how to pass the test instead of teaching how to understand the material being tested. If there is a need for everyone taking a subject to know the same facts, then standardized testing is the only way to find that out. One of the real problems with standardized testing is designing a test which test for the information critical to understanding the subject and not just testing for obscure facts which are of no real importance to that understanding.

Everyone is different and unique, so why are there standardized tests? A better idea would be to make it more open and be able to see how well a student performs in real life, not on a 4 hour long test.

Standardized testing is necessary in order to compare students’ skills with those from other school districts – whether across town or across the country.

The downside of standardized testing, however, is that many schools focus on preparing their kids for these tests and neglect to teach them useful stuff that’s not on the tests.

that stuff is crappy take it for the grades not cause you have to it will make life a whole lot easier