Controversial Education

One topic of education that is very controversial are standardized tests. This debate has gone on forever on whether or not the tests actually measure the education of the students. I believe that no tests can accurately measure the intelligence of a student. Also, one must look at the schools individually and access how each of them are doing. It is impossible to have a standarized test state wide or nation wide that meets the needs of every school. I also feel that schools that score higher on the test are, for the most part, teaching their students according to the test. The students spend their day learning the skills to be good test takers instead of learning to be good students. Teachers end up only teaching the material that will show up on the test, instead of making the students think bigger and outside the box. Standarized testing might seem like a good idea, in that its goal is to see how schools measure up, however it is impossible to create such a test. This issue on education will continue to be controversial in the future, however I feel that the only way for teachers to create better and smarter students is by teaching beyond what would be on the test and focusing on the needs of the students.