New Mexico students join others in nation against new tests

[Warpy]

1. This test isn't like a pop quiz in math class

Students are told that their score on this thing, part of the Common Core nonsense, will determine how far they go in life, whether or not they are eligible for trade school, college, or any sort of decent work, or whether they'll be relegated to fast food for their whole lives.

Instead of teaching, teachers have had to waste time drilling students on test taking strategies.

The stress it's putting on students is incredible. The amount of teaching time it's wasting is appalling. It's a complete waste of resources and an unfair way to measure anyone's "readiness for careers."

I remember how wigged out a lot of kids were over the SATs, but those were voluntary. The PARCC test is not voluntary. While it looks good on paper to test everybody to see how well the schools have done educating them, the reality is that some kids are just not good at taking high pressure, high stakes tests. In addition, it's a complete boondoggle, a high cost venture aimed at ruining some lives.

I was good at taking tests, even standardized, black out the circle tests. In fact, I was phenomenal at them. It would be easy for me to shrug and ask what the big deal is. However, life experience has taught me that some people out there who do poorly on standardized testing are every bit as knowledgeable as I am and often more creative when it comes to finding novel solutions.

The kids have a point here and it's one that should be paid attention to. Make the sucker voluntary so students headed to college have a measuring stick of some sort. Let the kids who are headed elsewhere avoid it or take it later. Save money for the strapped school systems around here. Most of all, let teachers go back to teaching.