Grant Gugle

English 111
Illiana Miller
March 26, 2015
Testing
Throughout our years of being in school, students are taught many things that help
develop them into the person they are today. Not all these traits involve someone's
ability to do well in subjects like science, math, or even world history. Students are also
taught that it is okay to stand out, be unique, think outside the box, and be creative.
Even though this is the goal by schools and teachers, do the curriculum and teaching
styles line up? In some cases yes, the teachers value scholar's opinions and are very
open minded and agree with their thinking style. However in most cases teachers
discourage divergent thinking, they give standardized multiple choice tests and say
there is only one correct answer, no exceptions. Even though as we all know, some
questions have multiple answers that could be correct depending on your perspective of
the question being asked. This way of teaching affects students daily on the basis that
they lose interest in attending school. Also a short term effect of standardization leads to
a lack of retention causing students to dispose of the information they learned because
they got the grade that was needed for the test and never have to use the information
again. This lack of divergent thinking and standardization can have long term
consequences on learning by installing into students minds that everything thats been

discovered is all we need, resulting in a lack of new methods and innovations that set us
apart from one another. Tho the daily consequences do not seem very big right now, we
have to look at the big picture, and realize that without change, we may never reach our
full cognitive ability.
This convergent style of thinking its greatly explained by Sir Ken Robinson, who is a
world-renowned education and creativity expert, in his video Changing Educational
paradigms. First of Robinson explains that our educational system was created during
the industrial revolution, and is simply outdated. Robinson then goes on to explain, We
have a production line mentality on learning, separating kids on the year they were
manufactured, and are all about standardization, and standardized testing.(Robinson
2010) When really we should be heading in the complete opposite direction, and
instead we should, Encourage divergent thinking to see many possible answers to
questions.(Robinson 2010) To further strengthen Robinsons point he added a scientific
study conducted on divergent thinking. This study included asking young children in
kindergarten how many possible uses they could think of to use a rubber band. 98% of
these students tested in the genius category, naming 200 or more uses, while the
average adult could only name around 10-15 ways. Five years later, these same
genius kindergarteners had a significant decline in their creative way of thinking and
could not name nearly as many. Robinson explained that this was do to standardization
of testing, and filling out bubbles on a test where there is only one correct answer,
greatly limiting the students multiple perspectives on approaching problems in their daily
lives. This style of learning standardized tests produce limits the students creative
potential and encourages them that it is okay to just know the correct answer instead of

opening up the possibilities for multiple answers, resulting in students to pursue

performance goals rather than obtaining knowledge.
Obtaining knowledge is the main purpose of school. However, from a students
viewpoint it is that we need to memorize information, then reiterate it on a test, then
never be questioned on that information again to pass the class. With this kind of
mentality how are we suppose to go out into the workforce and be productive and
perform what is required in our field of choice. John Tagg, the author of the article, Why
Learn? tells us how our current way of testing students is teaching them to, Grub for
grades instead of developing a firm understanding of the information in lasting ways.
While grubbing for grades, students are strictly focused on the grade they receive,
rather than the material being taught. Tagg states, We view this as a sure sign of
deficiency in our students, when they seemed to be exclusively focused on
grades.(Tagg 2) This goes to show students usually pursue performance goals rather
than what they would be worried about, the learning goals. If students were to perform
learning goals the performance goals on tests would follow hand in hand. Instead, Tagg
explains when students take these tests all they want to do is, Achieve whatever it is
they learned the information for, then thats it, it can go away, its disposable, you can get
rid of it.(Tagg 3) This example goes exactly with Ken Robinson when he states why we
need to go in the complete opposite direction of testing, and evaluate the students
cognitive thoughts and divergent thinking.
Besides our incentive to do well on test rather than actually learn the material Alfie
Kohn, The author of the article titled, From Degrading to De-Grading brings up many
more issues about standardized testing grades. Kohn mentions in his article that,

Grades tend to reduce students Preference for challenging tasks. Meaning students
may be daunted by passing tests in the subject they would like to learn about, and
instead choose the class that they heard is easier. Kohn also mentions that, These
grades say nothing about what a student can do, what they understand, or where they
need help. Instead they show how well a student can remember information they
learned a week or two before hand, instead of the lasting impact John Tagg proved to
be so vital to long lasting learning when he stated, We view students as shortsighted
when they only want the transcript the colleges provide.. Finally one of the best points
Kohn goes onto state is that grading tests encourage cheating. Students would rather
risk using another classmates answer rather than their own. This would go to show the
student may get a good grade and never learn the material, even if they think cheating
is wrong. They would rather pass the class and maintain their GPA, rather than expand
their knowledge.
In a world that changes with every blink of an eye, will we be able to adapt our style
of learning to obtain a greater knowledge? Though our educational system may need to
be re-vamped the answer is yes. We will have to go the extra mile to understand
students learning habits, and what environment the work best in. Some students learn
better in small group discussions, while others may prefer to have and isolated quiet
learning environment. We may also have to look at the time of the day, depending on if
students are an early bird or if that individual completely resents waking up and prefers
to go at night. The answer is not filling in bubbles on a test, we need to explain our
answers, and show critical thinking skills behind the answers we convey. Ken Robinson
explained, Great learning happens in groups, and collaboration is the stuff of growth.

Going to show that discussing or viewpoints, learning other perspectives from different
people we are more likely to learn at a greater level, rather than filling in multiple choice
tests. Though it may not be easy, we are capable of changing the educational system as
we know it, and better preparing young individuals for the rest of their lives.

Work Cited
Kohn, A. (1999). From Degrading to De-Grading. High School Magazine, 13.
Robinson, K. (Director). (2010). Changing Educational Paradigms [Motion Picture].
Tagg, J. (2004). Why Learn? About Campus, 10.