I was pretty shocked to see how standardized tests became so popular. The book mentioned how one of the reason for its popularity was to prove that Anglo-Americans were more intelligent and used it to confirm that they are the superior race. They used these intelligence tests as a way to make someone accept their job/status in society. Also, they used the results to justify social class differences and discrimination. It was quite disappointing to read about their real intentions behind these test.
“Measurement of intelligence was one method of convincing a person of his or her particular social worth.”
It was amazing to me how they came to all these conclusions from how a person performs on a test. If they did well, they had worth in society, they had good character, and they were compassionate.
But while I was reading this section of this chapter, this question came to mind:
What about the people who are incredibly intelligent but are not great test-takers? How can they simply rely on tests to determine one’s character, intelligence, and compassion?
Also, it was pretty sad to see that the U.S Supreme Court actually supported Congress’s right to restrict and control immigration all because of Brigham’s ideas.
I feel like schools were slowly losing their core purpose. It was becoming more of business instead of a place to learn. This chapter reminded me of our previous class discussion about whether school administrators should be someone with a business background or someone who was knowledgeable in reading/math/social sciences…etc.
In my opinion, schools were drastically changing into an organization. It was no longer a couple of small classrooms. Schools were expanding and the numbers of students were increasing. Therefore , it is crucial to find someone who can lead and make important decisions.
Have schools turned into a business? People’s lives are decided depending on how well you do on standardized tests. There are numerous private Korean SAT schools that train/drill kids at a young age til their junior year of high school. Some kids study 8+ years for these standardize tests that they often don’t do anything else.
With all this emphasis on standardized tests, wouldn’t kids miss out on the real learning and the enjoyment of it?