Hailey Smith (’23) We live in a society where tests determine our worth and because of it, we are all becoming brain-washed machines, bred to memorize and repeat information with little to no actual learning. Around the world, students are made to prove their worth through testing. This exam-oriented education has many faults though.

By basing our worth on our ability to take tests, we take away the true value of school- teaching students. With exam-oriented education, students learn to memorize and repeat information, only to forget it when the test is over. This completely defeats the purpose of learning, because students aren’t actually learning.

But, some people actually do learn. Unfortunately for them, not everyone is a good test taker, meaning even if you try your best and study, you may not get the grade you deserve. Learning is different for everyone, some people take in information easily while others struggle for hours. By basing someone’s worth on a test score, it takes away from the amount of hard work and dedication they put into their schooling.

Those who struggle with testing resort to cheating to help them pass their classes. According to Robert Kirkpatrick, a college professor in Thailand, so many college students are cheating because of the competitive nature of the educational system that demands high test scores above everything else. Students worry about low performance, so attempts to mitigate the risk of failed testing by cheating on examinations. Kirkpatrick also states that  some students want to pass the exam without studying. Though cheating is unacceptable, some students have no other option. They spend hours a day studying and see no results, the only hope they have for passing is through cheating.

Testing also eliminates students creativity. With tests, students have no say in what they are learning or how they are doing it. According to Rob Schmitz, a reporter for Marketplace, “Focusing solely on exams…often comes at the cost of students losing their imaginations and creativity.”

Here at Holt, according to a survey, 54.5 percent of students believe that schools focus too much on test scores. “I think that tests are too important in school. At the end of every semester, one test is worth 15 percent of your grade. This causes students to focus more on just memorizing facts for one assignment instead of actually trying to understand their material and apply it to their life,” Raegan Huitt (‘23) said.

By allowing our worth as a person to be determined by a couple of test scores, we lose ourselves. The exam-oriented culture we live in is ripping away what makes us unique and fitting us all into one big, boring box.