Every year every single one of us takes an SOL, an SAT or an AP test (if not all three). The entire year is spent preparing for these tests. It does not matter if you actually understand the material. All that matters is that you can at least look like you understand and can pass a test the the state or College Board made on material they think you should know. No one comes to school to learn anymore; they come because they have to. Even if one does want to learn, school is no longer the place to do it.

 Knowledge has taken a backseat to standardized tests. Who cares if you actually understand Algebra if you can fake it enough to pass an SOL? That is how we are measured by the county, the state, and College Board. They just want the numbers to look good; the superintendent is not going to sit down with every student to find out if they understand every concept of whatever subject they are learning.

 The reason standardized testing has become so important is because the United States is falling behind other countries educationally. Compared to other countries, we are 29th in math, 22nd in science, and 20th in reading. This is because in the U.S., success is valued more than learning.

 On top off all this, what we are being taught and tested on does not even benefit us. Unless you want to be a historian or a history teacher, how is knowing all of China’s dynasties and how long they lasted going to help you? It is certainly not going to help a Biology major. This isn’t to say we should be ignorant to all subjects except the one we are interested in, but learning about subjects that interest us would make our school experience much easier and help students do better.

 Units are also taught so quickly that even if you are actually interested in what you are learning, there’s barely anytime to understand it. Students cram all the information in just in time for the test, then forget most of it once they move on to the next unit. How is someone supposed to truly comprehend something after three classes then a test?

The school environment just is not a place to learn anymore. Students have utter contempt for coming in every day and having to sit through classes about things they do not need or do not want to know about. In addition to the bores of academics, students also have to deal with their peers. It is hard to concentrate with thirty rowdy teenagers sitting around you, and God forbid there’s a cute boy sitting across from you. It is hardly a place to get work done, even if you wanted to. Teachers can’t teach anything when they are in charge of so many people at once. It is extremely easy to get off task. Smaller class sizes would benefit students.  There are fewer distractions for students, as well as teachers, but still allowing students to socialize.

 Most people learn about the world around them through the Internet anyways. People can get information from a few online articles much faster than they can through several chapters in a textbook. Maybe that’s what the education system needs: a shift to an online format. Students are much more comfortable finding something on the Internet than they are in a glossary.

 Now don’t get me wrong, I love learning new things, but watching a two hour documentary about the world’s shortest man is not getting me into college. If school were just coming in everyday, learning and given short homework assignments for comprehension, that would be perfect. But giving students four or five hours of homework a night, after being at school for seven hours is not going to help them. Most students cheat and copy their homework anyway, and if they do not, they’re having mental breakdowns over the copious amounts of work they have to do. So in the end, no one is learning much anyway.