Standardized testing has been used for many decades in the United States in conjunction with our schooling system. Beginning around the mid-1800s, standardized testing has been used as way determine the intelligence of children, however these tests were often biased and discriminatory towards African American students. In a book titled, A Study of American Intelligence, author Carl Brigham who was a psychologist and eugenicist, wrote African American people were, “on the low end of the racial, ethnic, and or cultural spectrum”, according to the National Education Association. He believed that during the period of desegregating schools, having White children learn with Black children would decrease the quality of education. After the publication of the book, the College Board, which still controls much of our education system today, commissioned Brigham to design the Standardized Aptitude test commonly known as the SAT.
The origin of the test that most American high school students are forced to take, is racist and discriminatory. With that being said should students really still be taking these tests. My answer is no because it is historically unfair, stress inducing, and expensive. Additionally, if you think of all the time students could have spent studying for their regents’ level classes, that is instead wasted on prepping for the AP exams or SAT’s you might begin to realize how wasteful these tests are. In my opinion, standardized testing is a time wasting, stress inducing system only meant to hold students back.
