In schools, the students and some teachers have debated whether or not tests are necessary. I read an article from “Room for Debate” titled, “Is Testing Students the Answer to America’s Education Woes?” Two debaters are questioning whether or not testing is benefitting the students. Kevin Welner believes that testing isn’t working out. Students are constantly cramming information in their heads and regurgitating it on a test and forget about it until the final comes up where they have to cram even more information. He points out that because we just cram information, we lack a deep understanding of the topic and won’t remember it in the future. Patricia Levesque disagrees. She says that tests make sure that students aren’t falling behind and they can keep up with the lectures and tests.
In my opinion, I don’t agree with either side, nor do I disagree. I understand both sides of the argument. Of course, tests aren’t very efficient because students just stress study and write down information that’s drilled into their head, and eventually, the nails come off the idea and they forget it. At the same time, I don’t think there’s a better way to test students’ knowledge. Tests can be used to make sure students aren’t falling behind, but they’ll forget the information after the test until the finals or midterms. Both sides bring out important facts and details, but I don’t think either side is right in this debate. Testing is inefficient with learning, but efficient with making sure a student doesn’t fall behind. Should students be forced to take tests? Is taking tests necessary? Will it be beneficial to students in the long run?
I think testing can be good to access where a student is at, but only if they are tested once every few weeks or even months. America's current culture of overcasting to the point we test more than learn is definitely harming our students. As of right now students are only encouraged to regurgitate what they've heard then forget about it like you said. I think tests themselves as a format also must change as well. I think fill in the bubble questions don't do much to access where the student is at because a lot of times students just guess correctly or don't fully understand the problem but go with the most logical option and get it right. I think shorter written out tests with a handful of questions that make the students think about their problems would be a better test for students. The only type of questions I could see still having bubble questions would be math, but even then a few written questions would be beneficial.
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DeleteI don't think that testing is beneficial to most students. We're always trying to cram information in our heads the day before the test and stressing ourselves out. In a couple months, all of that hard work and all of that information we once studied is forgotten. Tests are a way to see how a student's doing at that moment in time but I don't think it's an accurate way of finding out how a student's doing. If a teacher sets a date for a test, not many people are going to pay much attention in class and then study the last couple days before the test. However, I do think that pop quizzes are a better way to check where a student's at in their classes because they don't have time to study, they actually have to pay attention in class to do good on pop quizzes.
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