Social Implication Topics

       Standardized testing is harmful to the growth of a population. In Divergent, the testing for factions is automated and teaches young minds to follow a system that is arguably faulty. Standardized tests cause unneeded stress on students that end up affecting their mental and physical health [1]. Beatrice was so reliant on the test to determine the rest of her life that when the test came back different than what she expected it put unneeded stress on her picking her future. In a recent survey, 70% of more than 1500 NEA members said that standardized testing was not an accurate assessment of the students they teach [2]. A false or inaccurate assessment of a student’s knowledge causes irreversible harm to the student’s confidence [3]. Beatrice after the test ends up making a hard decision to join Dauntless although this ends up being the right choice, we see the factionless who were people like Beatrice that chose wrong. Therefore it is essential to show the harm of standardized testing so people can enact change.

       Standardized testing help teachers get a baseline for their students learning capabilities from class. Standardized exams allow students and teachers to see progress throughout the class year [4]. This helps students gain confidence that they are learning and improving. Teachers can also see where they are impacting students with their teaching and where they are falling short. Although standardized testing may help certain students it falls short of everyone. The reason for standardized testing is so that every student gets a fair assessment on certain subjects. Sadly, a standardized test is not fair to all students. Recent changes with added time and speakers to help people that have learning disabilities is a step in the right direction [5]. This is not enough. Teachers often must teach the test [3]. Teaching the test is bad for the students because it teaches them only the material that will be on the test and none of the surrounding text. This is bad because students will go through school learning only the bare minimum instead of exploring all possibilities. The test also scores on how well you know the test it does not paint an accurate picture of a student that is very artistic or history buff. The move towards STEM although good for society has a negative impact on other aspects of society. Just like in divergent the purging of Divergents was because they didn’t fit a societal norm, just like if you are not good in STEM and English you will do poorly on standardized testing. It can also be seen when the Dauntless factions become robots because they trusted their leaders and the automation of the process causes irreversible harm to society. Automation and conforming to societal policies often have benefits but has larger harmful impacts. Automation needs to be done carefully and needs to take all potential impacts into account to be a net positive, and why the Divergent automated testing system is flawed.

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References

1.  Lincoln Aftergood, Why Standardized Tests are Harmful to Students as They Enter the Real World (The Lion’s Tale, November 8, 2019) https://lionstale.org/6824/opinion/why-standardized-tests-are-bad/ (10/9/2022) 

2.  Tim Walker, Survey: 70 Percent Of Educators Say State Assessments Not Developmentally Appropriate (NEAtoday, 2/18/2016) https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/survey-70-percent-educators-say-state-assessments-not (10/9/2022) 

3.  Bryan Nixon, The Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing (WHITBY) https://www.whitbyschool.org/passionforlearning/the-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing (10/9/2022) 

4. Lisa Tunnell, Standardized Tests: The Benefits and Impacts of Implementing Standardized Tests (Educated Advanced, February 24, 2022)  https://educationadvanced.com/resources/blog/standardized-tests-the-benefits-and-impacts-of-implementing-standardized/ (10/9/2022) 

5. Dr. John Poulsen and Kurtis Hewson, Standardized Testing: Fair Or Not? (University of Lethbride) https://www.ulethbridge.ca/teachingcentre/standardized-testing-fair-or-not (10/9/2022)