Recently on our campus a documentary was shown entitled the
Race to Nowhere. Check out the trailer for it here. As a side note, even for those who don't like documentaries- this film was amazing and truly eye opening.
At this recent film showing at NCC- a variety of different departments, staff and students came
together to talk about this movie. Race to Nowhere addressed America’s
obsession with school children being perfect to get into the best school. A 4.0
GPA is no longer good enough because students need to be in every and all AP
class offered, be a state champion athlete, have a job, be in many different
student organizations, have service and volunteer experience, and of
course a top standardized test score.
Race to Nowhere begins talking about the suicide of a13 year
old girl. Why did she kill herself? She got a bad grade on a math test and
thought that was the end of her future. How sad and disheartening is that? We
as Americans have become utterly obsessed over this idea of perfection and
having the perfect ACT or SAT score. I think that JD’s blog post also
highlighted this issue perfectly.
Instead of providing enriching subject matter and actively
engaging students, challenging them even- teachers are now being forced to
teach for the standardized test. I’m thankful that I finished school at a time
when the hype (or at least I didn’t feel it) on standardized tests where not
nearly this intense. I now hear stories from family members in ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL who are stressed over tests mandated by the state. My little brother in
8th grade had a nightmare over an upcoming standardized test! What
does this say about our nation that we assess the value of a child’s education by one exam?
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