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Standardized Tests: Too Much Pressure?
By Jessie S., Gold Team

CMT, ERB, CMT again, SSAT, ACT, SAT; these are all tests that we have taken or will take very soon. But do we know what they stand for or where they get us?

The CMT is the Connecticut Mastery Test, which students in elementary school and middle school take starting in 3rd grade.

The ERB used to be taken by middle schoolers, but when the state approved more CMT testing last year, the ERB was replaced.

So if these are the tests that MMS students have to take, why should they worry about the other tests? Simple: the pressure to go above and beyond.

Here's a perfect example. After taking the CMTs, high achieving students (95th percentile or better) are invited to the Middlesex cafeteria, where other students who went to the John Hopkins' Camp over the summer talk to them.

John Hopkins is a top-notch university that provides a summer camp for gifted middle schoolers, which offers a variety of courses that are also offered to college students. However, the key to getting into this camp is a good score on the ACTs or SATs, two tests taken by high schoolers to get them into college.

Students have to sign up in advance for these tests, travel as much as two hours to a different town, and sit in a small classroom with high schoolers' looking at them funny.

Take it from me, it is not fun when you finish in five minutes because all you can do is guess, and with fifty five minutes to spare, you have nothing to do. But why would they do this? Yes, it measures your knowledge, but do they really need that when tests for our age kids are given yearly? The answer: no.

So why would someone take these tests in the first place? First off, there is a parental issue. Some parents believe that these tests will prepare their kids for other tests, and make them better prepared for high school and college. Parents really make it hard for kids, because they put so much stress on kids to do well on these tests even when they are not even for our grade level. Children who take these tests refer to them as ‘bogus' or ‘unnecessary.' Me, well, I refer to them as knowledge-measureing-braniac tests.

Back to the stress; there must be a different place that the stress comes from besides our parents! Lots of the stress comes from our friends, the people who have already taken the test and done exceedingly well. It becomes a sort of contest, only, it's lacking prizes. A little bit of stress comes from the school, because they are in fact the ones who provide the program, and expect us to score high and succeed in whatever is thrown at us.

But there is another issue as well: why do we put up with it. The answer: well, there really is none. Some of us actually want to go to prep-school. Others of us want to go to the summer school. A lot of us are just fed up with it, and want to hold a protest. But you should always remember: unless there really is no reason, there should not be a protest, and there is normally a reason.

NOTE: This is an editorial.