Monthly Archives: October 2019

To Test or Not to Test?

By: Jakub Siska 

It all started in the third grade. Like anything in life, your first impression is often carried out and remains your only impression until a life-altering experience changes it. For me, my first impression of standardized testing is my only impression and I’ll stand by that. Until of course, I get a 36 on the ACT, then I won’t care about standardized tests anymore. But that is unlikely to happen, and my teachers knew it, my parents knew it, all from when I was 8 years old. 

I remember specifically being introduced to the CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) and thinking “how could I take a test for three hours, why is it so long?” From that point, I wasn’t feeling so confident. And when it came time to take the test, there was just too much going through my mind. I was constantly thinking of something else besides the passage I was reading or the problem I was working on, sure, I’ve improved my testing skills since then. But not by the standards that I hold myself to. Seeing my growth in school but seeing a stagnant trend in my standardized testing is a hard reality to watch, I just have a hard time staying focused for that long. Part of my frustration is because I’m not naturally good at taking standardized tests. And for the people who are good at these tests and don’t exactly understand where I’m coming from. “Eh, hem,” my parents just say, “oh, that’s just an excuse” or “you don’t spend enough time working on it.” Okay, well maybe the ladder is partly true, but in my defense, it’s hard to study for something that you have consistently been performing poorly at. It’s a motivational thing, why would I want to sit down and practice something that just brings me back bad memories? But either way, standardized tests are not my strong suit, and with college coming up and having to take the ACT multiple times, I feel at a disadvantage. 

Although some people believe that standardized tests give an accurate representation of where people’s education is, standardized tests actually hinder college’s ability to see intelligence in a person because they don’t measure, creativity, high-order thinking, and problem-solving. Maybe it isn’t just the test, maybe it’s how the test is viewed. With how much pressure there is on students to perform well on these big standardized tests so then they are able to get into their dream colleges, it’s pretty reasonable to make the conclusion that these tests are used to find out a person’s intelligence. And that shouldn’t be true, I, for one. Perform pretty well in school, I’m not a straight-A student but I’m not that far either. But if you saw my transcript and my ACT and SAT scores, you wouldn’t think its the same person, my tests just aren’t that good.

People nowadays view these tests as the end all be all decisions towards what school you go to and how smart you are. A conclusion that doesn’t seem fair to those who push themselves in school and can keep up on their coursework, but when it comes to a 4-hour test, they just don’t get the results they want. The problem is, “The goal of standardized testing is not to find out how well you think through problems, or if you can express your opinions, or create a presentation, the goal is to find out what you were able to memorize” (Hudlow). Memorization is not problem-solving, it’s just knowing the answers. Sure, the argument that anyone can memorize material is somewhat true, but not everyone is able to memorize four different s

ubjects of material to use all in 4 hours. And no one should have to if a test is claiming to put a number on a person’s entire academic performance, the performance should be based on problem-solving and not memorization. 

Standardized tests also aren’t a perfect science, like most things, there’s room for error and improvement. Meaning that there’s also a chance that we don’t quite understand the intended purpose of these standardized tests, Although, the common stigma is that these tests are meant to predict intelligence and what college we deserve to get into. Don Heller from the Penn State’s Center for the Study of Higher Education explains that we are seeing the test wrong, he says, “designed to predict first-year college grades — it is not validated to predict grades beyond the freshman year, graduation rates, pursuit of

 a graduate degree, or for placement or advising purposes” (Heller). If this is the case, and the ACT and SAT have no correlation to intelligence, then we as a community need to redefine the usage of standardized tests and change the stigma from intelligence to placement. 

Even though the common theme of standardized testing is that it gives the wrong idea to students and doesn’t accurately predict intelligence, some can argue that it does predict intelligence and even success in life after college. Two researchers from Vanderbilt University “documented that the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years, including income and occupational achievements” (Hambrick). Believe me, I want to believe whatever Vanderbilt tells me as well, great school. But, I simply cannot believe this. A test about math, science, reading, and English cannot determine a person’s success after college, and here’s why.

First off, if the most popular majors were something along the lines of English or math, it could make sense that the SAT could predict occupational s

uccess for a very small percentile of students. But that just is not the case, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics 19.2 percent of college students had a business major in 2014-2015. The runner up for majors is health professions and related programs at 11.3 percent (NCES). With this being said, there’s not much reason to be good at what the SAT and ACT want you to be good at, sure, they build a solid background a foundation for any type of work. But in the end, chances are these people who are studying business won’t need to know how to find the circumference of a circle or explain the theme of the story of Jimmy and his family life.

Touching on the topic of my parents again, my dad wasn’t always great at testing or school in general. Actually, he even says I’m in a better place than h

e was as a kid. But it took him a while to figure out how smart he was and because of that, the first part of his life was frustrating. After high school in Slovakia, he first went to the military because he didn’t think he was ready to start a new academic chapter of his life. After all, most people in Slovakia never pursed a secondary education. Once he was discharged from the military, he went to what they would compare a community college to and was massively successful, eventually gaining a scholarship to come here to America and study as an engineer at Iowa State University. The point being, everyone has potential, and the ability to harness that potential isn’t always there for all of us right away. It can take years. But we can’t wait years to take the standardized tests that we are required to take, so to have someone put their future into a test they aren’t quite mentally ready for is an unfair action to take.

In a world where tests are everything, it’s hard to not be pulled into the stress of learning the things you’re not passionate about, trying to get to a place where you can study your passions. And that’s why the ACT and SAT are poor examples of expressing intelligence because they don’t test the creativity, high order thinking, and problem-solving that people use in their passions. And because of my experiences when I was younger, I find it hard to believe that the standardized tests that we are given determine our potential and intellect, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do as much as I am right now in school. So when given a standardized test, of course, try your hardest, but also remember that your score is just a number and there’s a lot more potential in your creativity, high order thinking, and problem-solving abilities.

Works Cited 

Company Company. “The SAT Is A Good Intelligence Test – Nytimes.Com.” Nytimes.com. N. p., 

2019. Web. 14 Oct. 2019.

Hudlow, A. Hudlow, Andy. “Standardized Testing Is Not An Accurate Measure Of  

Intelligence.” Knight Errant. N. p., 2019. Web. 14 Oct. 2019.

Standardized tests not always best indicator of success | Penn State University

“Standardized Tests Not Always Best Indicator Of Success | Penn State University.” News.psu.edu. N. p., 2019. Web. 14 Oct. 2019

The hot topic for 2019? Or just a hoax?

Personally, I thought it was fake for a very long time until I checked my phone on September 20th to see that people were actually making a trip to the middle of nowhere Nevada.

This whole idea started as a Facebook meme according to Vox News, but the incredible thing was how much it grew. The whole point of this raid was to find the aliens that the government kept secret from us, and logistics behind it all was “they can’t stop us all” so obviously this was a sure-fire win. Credited with the starting and planning of the Area 51 meme is 21 years old Matty Roberts.

In July Roberts started a Facebook group for the even set the date for September 20th. When over 2 million people RSVD’d for the even, the FBI decided it was time to put an end to this plan.

The original plan of meeting up in Rachel, the closest town to Area 51, and creating an interactive EDM music festival called “Alienstock” for the supporters of the raid fell through. So instead, the community set up a dance party in downtown Las Vegas to celebrate.

Bud Light even made a special edition green can with an alien on it to have fun with the worldwide internet meme.

And even if the original plan for “Alienstock” fell through, many people still decided to show up to Rachel and have fun with the occasion. Even though the 54 residents of Rachel were not too happy with all the publicity surrounding the event.

From the outside, this whole thing may just seem like a bunch of immature internet users getting together trying to do something illegal and potentially dangerous. But with that said, it’s important to see the power in this mini-movement.

The internet has a bigger influence than ever now, more and more people are paying attention to what’s happening and what’s popular, and with this power and influence comes a community. The people involved in this admittedly immature internet meme made more than a meme, they created a movement or people gathering together because of one common interest.

For those who found the Area 51 Raid unnecessary or stupid, give it a chance. It just goes to show that a lot of good can be done with the power of the internet.

Set up of the failed Aleinstock festival idea.

Picture outside of a convenience store in Rachel, the small town outside of Area 51.