18. That is the age in which the average american citizen graduates from high school. Having spent their entire childhood from the age of 6 in a series of buildings, with a series of teachers, with their little brains growing and changing into the adult minds that can think innovatively and critically. But what if the citizen had actually been shortchanged, told that the education they strived to obtain for 12 years was actually a disparage of a broken instructional system. Since 1965 americans have been fleeced when it comes to education. In an effort to level the playing field for all students, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which on paper is an outstanding belief, to introduce a system …show more content…
The age in which students start testing is a range from 1st to 3rd grade, roughly 7-10 years old. Psychologists have proven that implementing stress upon children before the age of 9 can cause the progression of detrimental psychological effects, like test anxiety. “I dreaded the day because the tests never made me feel more intelligent or even more successful as a student. My mind flooded with negative thoughts and doubts because I, like many other students, am not a good test taker. Standardized tests specifically were my weaknesses because students have to take tests for multiple hours in the morning, and when you are a fidgety child, it makes it ten times more difficult.” (Giotto). The average american student knows this drill, the walk into the computer lab, or testing room, where you sit for the whole morning taking a test, and you’re not allowed to talk to anyone or the results were rendered non-conclusive because talking counts as cheating. But why is this the case? Why do more U.S. citizens know the drill for how testing goes in schools than they do the drill for going out to play during recess? Parents ask the same question. One dad from Virginia asked the same question when both of his daughters who were in 1st grade, came home worried about a state test they would not have to take for another 2 years (Rotherham). When teachers explain that there is a lot riding on a test, students tend to be more apt to worrying and being anxious about