Before standardized testing, schools required entrance exams specific to each school be taken. These exams required people to travel to the college they desired to attend to take the exam. The College Board then formed in 900 to administer a test that can be taken nationally without the difficulty of travelling. Many years later, in 959, a professor at University of Iowa named Everett Franklin Lindquist introduced the ACT. He often despised the idea of testing, stating that we must undue emphasis upon average test results, upon school-to-school and teacher-to-teacher comparisons& may cause the teacher& to neglect the interests of the pupils, and to be concerned instead with subject matter objectives and with higher average scores for their own sake (Lindquist). In this quote, he claims that teachers may instead neglect their students by focusing more on trying to get higher average scores instead of actually focusing on the interest of their students. This is evident in todays society where it common for teachers to adjust their lesson plan specifically to be focused around a test. The pressure puts on students about standardized test causes them to worry and gain anxiety while
taking them, and these mindsets arent stable enough conditions students should be tested on their knowledge in.
The conditions and environment youre forced into while taking this test is also an unrealistic representation of knowledge. According to Jessica Weaver at Pennsylvania State University, standardized testing also doesnt have a wide enough range of topics to accurately measure the intelligence of an individual. In a realistic situation, you would never be trapped alone in a room without resources, she said. They may test whether or not you remember geometry from 0th grade, but they dont have any real bearing on someones success in business school (Weaver). In realistic situations, youre never forced in environment to remember certain techniques and things learned many years ago. Geometry is generally taught in ninth or tenth grade which would result in the average person forgetting it by the time theyre required to take a college required test. Also, standardized test dont test wide enough of subjects to truly measure the intelligence of the brain. Weaver argues that knowing geometry from tenth grade has no benefit for someone who is interested in being a major in business.