Standardized testing

Today in class we took a version of the MENSA test. Except I think my professor purposely changed some of the questions and answers to make it NOT make sense. For instance, a question about love and sex; sexiness and intelligent readers. Anyway, he gave us 10 minutes to answer 25 questions. I finished early because I became impatient and just guessed with the rest. I got 7 correct. Luckily, those were the 7 I had expended some effort to learn. I felt happy at the end. VERY stressed at the beginning.

My professor told me I'd have to re-enter the education program and repeat the classes if I failed this standardized test. If I got 17 or above, I'd be okay. I worked fast, and was strongly reminded of those annoying state tests we would have to take at the end of each school year. I understand why we have to take them, but are students seriously supposed to be tested on what they know? Yes. Their knowledge should be assessed. The question is, "HOW." How do we test children with dyslexia, ADHD, blindness, test anxiety, or any other disability or problem?

Teachers should not teach to get good scores, but to help their students be challenged and to gain achievements.

Our government (Bush AND Obama) wants America to be able to compete in the global economy. What does that mean? Should we be teaching Chinese, Swiss, Arabic or Japanese instead of French, Spanish or German? Should our classes be Economics, Business, Cultural Anthropology, Statistics, Communications, National Security and Math instead of Gym, Creative Writing, Theatre, Dance, Mythology or Physics? This is not just an education issue, but an economic, civic, social and national security issue.

Soooo... what should we teach? Which subjects should we prioritize above others? What about the different units within the subjects? Is creative writing as important as writing an essay? Both are English. Is statistics more important than geometry? Both are Math.

One thing our country excels at more than any other country, is our creativity and ability to think outside of the box. Most of the other countries competing in our world economy focus on logic or systematic approaches. Do we want to be more like other countries while still being ourselves? Is it possible?