Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

Well, today marks the last day of the state mandated aptitude testing for my school. And as the title may imply, these tests were AWFUL. It seems the only prerequisite for passing these tests is a conversational grasp of the English language. But who am I kidding- the board of education always has to play to the lowest common denominator. Students are required to pass each test, and cannot graduate until all the tests have been passed.I talked to a few teachers today about the simplicity of the tests (of which there were four- Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies,) and they all laughed- apparently it's no secret that the south has the worst educational system in the United States. One teacher in particular gave me the reason- The southern states saw other, smarter states making standardized testing after the implication of the No Child Left Behind policy, and, to both save face and improve the number of graduates. Though, despite the remedial difficulty of the tests and their content, students spread rumors of individuals taking the tests 3, 4, sometimes even 5 times before passing. Welcome to public education.

-LJ