Every year students are required to take their end-of-the-year SOL (Standards Of Learning) tests. These tests are based upon the curriculum given by the government to the teachers of our school systems.

Though students, like myself, are not excited about the test, there are many more faults to the equation. According to the VA Department of Education, they believe that they should hire teachers to teach off of the test rather than learn the material.

They state on their website that they “ensure that teachers enter the classroom with content knowledge and instructional skills aligned to the Standards of Learning.”

These tests are no longer being given to test the student’s knowledge. We can sit back and watch as the teachers focus less on learning and more on the struggles of students passing a test.

Teacher Mrs. Cara Walton, has strong beliefs and thoughts on this subject.

“I feel that the tests have gone away from their original intent.” said Walton. She has a strong opinion of standardized testing and is not happy with the route in which they are going.

Most of the students whom I have known over the years have forgotten the material that they had learned from grades in the past. Following the completion of their test, their minds no longer cared about what knowledge they had retained. If the students are not retaining or interested in the information, why should the teachers take the time teaching it?

According to the VA Department of Education, the teachers are teaching the material that follows the curriculum within the test. Without the interest of learning, these students are simply memorizing and no longer understanding.

There was a recent study written by Jeremiah Gawthrop, titled Standardized Testing and Its Effect on Student Learning. The study’s main purpose was to give the readers an idea of what standardized testing is and how it is changing the way people are learning material in the school systems.

Gawthrop mentions in his article that one of the negative effects of standardized testing is the enforcement of students from other countries to take the test. Basically, it states that students must take the test even though they may be new to the country and have not yet adapted to the expectations of the SOL tests.

“Assessment testing is not designed to help teachers; it is a tool for keeping the education system accountable to government,” Gawthrop said.

He also mentions that this is a very dangerous time within our education. Later asking the question, “Who should determine this standard and what will the standard be?”

In my agreement with Gawthrop, I do not believe that all teaching should revolve around one test at the end of the year. This curriculum is an extremely unhealthy way of school life and is simply pointless to the students.

“Assessment testing is not designed to help teachers; it is a tool for keeping the education system accountable to government,” Gawthrop said. Yet this is a strong statement, I do not have a difficult time agreeing with him.

Though I have been frustrated with the tests due to their failure to find purpose, there is something more important which has rested in my conscience. There seems to be a restriction in the education being given to the students of the Virginia school systems. Due to the set curriculum, the students are only learning to a certain extent.

If you apply society to the fiction novel, The Giver, we see a similar idea. Within the novel, the government sets a limit to what the humans may know about the past. The state forces a curriculum which only allows teachers to teach to a certain extent of the subject. This is leaving everyone who seeks to learn, without hope of “thinking outside of the box.”

Many films and works of art have been implementing the government’s power within to their piece’s theme. The Hunger Games, Divergent, as well as The City of Ember each give this concept of a restriction to know or understand.

Freshman Brad Kirkdorffer explains his thoughts on what the State is doing wrong with standardized testing.

“With the curriculum, teachers are told what to teach. We are not allowed to get the details or understand more depth of each subject. I feel that SOL’s are simply taking away the value of education,” Kirkdorffer said.

This division and lack of understanding in our society is beginning to cause people to wonder about how to break this barrier. I want to know how to “think outside the box,” and know more of the details. The education is simply revolving around a test. This begs the question: what do we not know?