o tempora, o mores!

Or Standards of Learning, here in Virginia, are the typical standardized tests called for under No Child Left Behind. We had the testing prior to that abomination, but it was more of a trial-and-error before.

Tomorrow and Wednesday, juniors have their grammar and writing prompt tests at my school. My teacher, of course, decides not to tell us this until *today* when she says, “Oh, btw, your testing rooms are…”

Murr, so I have to be up two hours earlier than normal to get there on time. Growly-growly…what a ridiculous waste of time!

Writing prompts are obnoxious, anyway…and I really can’t understand why they appended a prompt to the SATs. Half of it is mechanics–what you can really grade upon–and the other is content…which opinion-based. I’m sorry, my grade should not be subject to the opinions of whoever. :/ Grawr.

edit:
The time they waste is incredible. First, we aren’t even allowed into our testing rooms until 8:00AM. [School starts at 7:45.] After all the slow, scripted instructions and form-filling-out-ness and sample questions, we begin at 8:30. The fifty-two question test took me no more than fifteen minutes, because I was out of the school by 8:47 on my way downtown for some coffee and a morning danish.

These tests are meant to test the bare-minimum. In fact, these tests don’t actually measure knowledge, but one’s ability to take a test. Instead of tests made to meet the standards, the standards are lowered to meet the test, and over the years, the level of difficulty of the curriculum has plummeted drastically. No one is forced to learn…students just memorize bare-minimums–or don’t, as the case may be. I can’t possibly comprehend how someone can fail these tests, but…y’know–and forget them soon after. There’s no drive to learn because they’ve never been made to. :/

Jones says, “Oh, of course they’re easy for you all. You’re Advanced students. They have to test everyone on the same level, though, so they can have accurate scores of where we stand as a school, and…”

Why does everything have to be statistic’d? Why do we all have to be based on some set of figures? Why can’t the educators do their goddamn job and teach us, even [gasp] rising above the bare minimums that we’re required to know? Damn.