Education is a starting point of any human being and it begins even before a person is born. A genetic predisposition, as well as everything that is heard in the womb is used by the brain to form personality and unique nature of each person’s individuality. It is extremely important to have a system of education that adheres to the highest standards and teaches a person skills, which will be used in the future life. Standardized testing should not be a measure when determining an acceptance to a higher educational institution.
Recently, standardized testing has become a criteria in judging a person’s quality and quantity of knowledge. The word “standardized” refers to a certain structure and regulation of the test that can be seen as necessary and inevitable. But, it is unclear how someone can know the real and true standards of someone else’s knowledge. The amount of information and number of possible interpretations is possibly limitless and it would be hard to predict and support the regulations that are made up by someone in relation to another person. It is virtually improbable for a person to know another person enough, to provide certain frames for their education. It is even more complex to find out what the society’s wants and needs are, and which steps must be taken to take better care of the education for a large number of people. Standardized testing cannot be accepted as admittance criteria for several reasons. First, it eliminates individuality from the process, second it puts everyone under a common standard and third, it diminishes and wrongfully evaluates abilities of a person.
Standardized testing is made up by educators and the test is administered for a large number of people. Already, this seems wrong because something that is given to such a great amount of people cannot reasonably evaluate the skill set of an individual. In the process of such testing everyone becomes one and unique characteristics of each person disappear in the numbers. The fact that everyone is treated the same is a good thing but in this situation, it is not an equality, it is a stereotypical and forceful unification of people under one criteria. Every person is different and even though people must be treated equally, they must not be treated the same. Everyone has their own set of circumstances and conditions that made them a certain way. It would be hard to figure out the particular reasons and moments that influenced a person but the end result is—their individuality should be an important factor in the application of any skill tests. Everyone has an original and personal set of qualities and skills that are unique to that individual. Even though it might seem that there are people without a talent or a specific ability to do something, everyone has a talent, it is only a matter of finding out what it is.
The views of Plato in regards to education make it obvious that he would not approve of the standardized testing. Some of his opinions were related to the generality of education. Plato’s views in relation to education and the state were very much concrete. He wanted to create a system that would have a strict structure in educating the society. But Plato accepted the fact that everyone is different and that is why in his teaching system there would be stages. Plato’s education system would take much more time than it does today and it is probably a good idea. When people are young and even when they reach adult age, there is no guarantee that they have acquired the necessary skills and abilities to cope and deal with the world and all it might offer. The longer and more specialized education is the better understanding a person will have of the surrounding world and themselves. Plato would not agree to standardized testing because it destroys and fails to find the originality of the person. According to Plato, people must get educated in arts and this is a big part of anyone’s emotional being (McPherran 538). Even if it is supposed that there is no soul, people still have feelings and the reality shows that it is specifically the feelings and emotions of a person that govern their actions. To find out the talent of a person there must be much individual testing and search for unique skills. Standardized testing fails to find the true abilities of a person. People who make up such tests are oriented by the majority. Anything that is developed for a large number of people, does exactly that—unites a large number of people, ignoring individuality. Everyone is made the same because the same test is given to a number of people without really finding out the skills of each person. Every little nuance in life makes people different, so it is unrealistic to apply standardized testing that was made up by people who have not seen or known those who will be writing the test.
Works Cited
McPherran, Mark L. “Socrates, Plato, Eros And Liberal Education.” Oxford Review Of Education 36.5 (2010): 527-541. Print.