Standardize or Not to Standardize?

In the real world, bosses don’t know the answers. They have ideas,  
they have projections, but they don’t know for sure. So, instead of  
training employees to give specific answers, they teach employees have  
to solve problems. Problem is, young employees might have no idea how  
to handle this.

Why? Because they’re used to being taught to excel on standardized  
tests. No discovery here, just multiple choice questions with straight- 
forward answers. This works in some disciplines–anything involving  
math, usually–but not in all. They don’t measure innovation, they  
don’t measure musical aptitude and they don’t measure writing skills.

So what do standardized tests measure? They measure a student’s  
ability to take standardized tests, nothing more. No way to determine  
if the student might be a great speaker, a superb manager or even a  
theorist who might push the boundaries beyond what we currently know  
about physics.

There’s plenty of people in my workplace that are good at taking  
tests. They study hard, they show up on time and they do the right  
things at the right time, every single time. What happens when  
something is changed, a crisis happens or life just throw you a  
curveball? They freeze. They clam up. They offer up nothing but  
nonsense. These people suck. These people waste everyone’s time.

Students (later, employees) don’t need rote memorization anymore. We  
don’t need to know all the answers beforehand. The world now has  
knowledge everywhere. Students need to learn how to solve problems,  
how to figure things out and how to improve.

Notice how many of the most successful people are the ones who left  
school early? Who achieved great success in areas unrelated to rote  
memorization?

I’ll leave you with one last question: do YOU think students are  
better off now than they were even 10, 20 years ago? I do not.

Tyler Hurst | 602.614.4137

Editor, Strategist, Writer

kontaktmag.com | twitter.com/tdhurst | tylerhurst.com