page 104 testing in schools 200601024 Noh Young Sun

Standardized Only to Serve to Kill Creativity    C.C Colton once said, "Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer." Do you believe that test scores are a good indicator of talents and potential that each and everyone of us has? Without a doubt, we cannot evaluate people with mere numbers. We all come with different qualities and abilities, so it is close to impossible to show our true selves with two or three digit numbers. The Korean education system is under severe criticism both in and out of the country, since it turns students into test-taking machines who are not capable of thinking creatively. Students who were born and have been raised in Korea spend twelve years of their school life cramming for exams at school. They spend countless hours at their desks only to get good scores on the tests that will eventually get them into prestigious universities. Most of them do not have either their own visions or philosophy that  differentiate themselves from one another. I think standardized tests should go the way of a record player, because it goes against the essence of what true education is really about; to foster creative minds.   Standardized tests serve only to stifle creativity. Students learn at their own paces and have their own ways of learning. They have different talents and personalities. Thus, the same methods and approaches of teaching do not work for all students. Standardized tests ask students to find one, clear-cut answer to the same question. There is no room for critical thinking or creativity in taking these types of tests. In so many cases, teachers spoon-feed them information they need to do well on the tests. As they get more and more accustomed to these uniform tests, they get discouraged from thinking out of the box and developing their own visions of the world around them. Some people argue that the standardized tests are the only way to make students study, since they believe that they are usually not motivated to spend their time at their desks unless there are tests coming up. However, studying for the sake of getting good scores on the tests does not encourage students to develop a true passion for learning. I firmly believe that the purpose of education is to make sure that students extend their learning outside the classroom and make it a life-time journey.       True education makes students become creative minds who can come up with ingenious ideas and new ways of doing things. They are not sausage casing into which we stuff fragmentary knowledge. Standardized tests are the sure-fire way to turn students into dull, insipid individuals who only "repeat what other generations have done" like Jean Piaget once said.