SAT’S, ACT’S CAT’S. For years standardized testing has been the gateway to college and the stairway to successful lives. But for years they have been the one thing that make or break  a student’s credibility when they eventually do apply to college.

One test that’s all it takes. 170 questions and one essay that’s all it takes in deciding weather or not you get to go to the school of your dreams or half to go to a safety school that probably is not the match for you. Now you tell me if that is right, you tell me if that is fair, you tell me if that should be allowed.

Writer and critic Gerald Bracy said that “Standardized testing are machines of social destruction and should not be as important as society makes it out to be.” Which in many way is right because Standardized testing has truly taken on a life of its own.

Too many students now a days  are not good test takers and not enough kids fall into the category of being “book smart.” So why would colleges rely so much on these tests that the  majority of students don’t excel in and why would so many teachers and administrators  judge how smart a student is based on one test? Its not right.

This is evident for colleges all around the United States. Last year heavy weight universities Harvard, Yale and MIT denied 75% of students that had a 4.0 or higher GPA but scored lower then 2070 on their SAT’s. So these students aced the high school learning curriculum, showed that they can work hard and thrive in a learning environment and these schools won’t let them in because the students did not dominate in one test, not to mention a test that the majority is multiple choice and a test that is timed from the minute you pick up your pencil.

In today’s day and age Standardized tests and tests in general for that matter can not be what we judge students off of. We should not put so much emphasis on something that frankly is setting the student up to fail and setting them up to not show their true potential.

Colleges, administrators and teaching personal should put more focus on kids who are “well-rounded students.” Students who are active learners and students who are involved not just with their school work but with other things after school and outside of school.  Students should not be judged by how they perform in the traditional examn but how much time and effort they put into school every single day.

Colleges should refrain from looking at students test taking skills and begin to look at a students overall learning skills and their overall character.