Many argue that school students’ academic performances should not be assessed through standardized tests. Although these tests have some merits, I believe it is better to eliminate them as they can lead to cheating and may not accurately reveal a student’s true potential.
To begin, the administration of standardized assessments in schools at the end of each quarter can be beneficial in terms of promoting competition among students. When a student performs badly and receive lower score than their peers , they can be encouraged to equal them and study hardly. This can be a strong motivation for some pupils to research more, ask teachers frequently and develop their minds. Hence, these tests can be helpful for some students , making them competitive.
Nevertheless, this rivalry can have some adverse effects. Many students may focus only on their marks they get from monthly tests, forgetting about studying and fairly getting grades. It is because they may not want to be ashamed among their classmates if they acquire lower scores. Therefore, they can start cheating and plagiarizing, which is vulnerable for their future. This bad habit is likely to persist in their future lives, at the university and even at work, for instance. To prevent such troubles, schools should eliminate standardized test systems.
Another reason for removing objective tests is that they do not fully represent student’s ability. Standardized assessments often focus on a narrow range of subjects such as math, science, literature. While these subjects are important in the overall development of students, they can lead to neglect of other humanitarian subjects like arts, physical culture and social studies. Those who are talented in humanitarian areas can be underevaluated and even discouraged because of receiving bad marks.
To conclude, while standardized tests have their merits, I tend to agree more with the argument that they should be removed for a number of reasons mentioned above.