Should we have a national high school exam?
National High school examination and its relevancy have become a national debate in the evolving 21st century to a greater extent. In earlier times high school exam on the national; level was accurate to measure the potential of a student, but now the whole idea of national high school exam has become questionable.
There are number of states in the country which are constantly changing their requirements in terms of criteria's of graduating from high school. For a recent instance, in the state of Mississippi students in order to get their diploma are not necessarily required to clear all the final exams.
The notion behind the philosophy of the act of State of Mississippi for changing the criteria for the graduation of students in school is that more importance is given to the student experiencing and continuing his high school course journey than the only final test which is regarded as the final outcome. This helps the student perform better as it reduces the pressure on student during the final examinations.
As per the new policy in Mississippi, 25% of total grade in final exam is taken into consideration. Majority of the states in the country has recently decide to not to continue the exit exams from the future sessions. The history of the exit tests lies in the 70's where it was regarded that these tests would increase the performance of the student by the greater extent due to the competition with the fellow and one-self. Many states like Mississippi, Arizona, and Georgia have already declined the usage of the exit exams, whereas States like California are still using the high school exam as the benchmark to confer diploma degree to students.
There is a significant debate when it comes to national high school exam policy in the country, there are opposite views of the people who are in support of the exam versus the one who are not. The supporter of the exams as the benchmark to confer the diploma to high school students say that the final tests tend to build a positive feeling of competition in student with fellow students , and builds confidence in them to perform better than the average student, whereas the people who are against the national exam policy says that the final test builds up a high [pressure on the student which is quite unnecessary for the student and puts him/her in constant fear of denial and failure in the test which effects the performance of the student. The critics thinks that final exams are not right to judge to measure the success.
The motive of the tests in the education system is to make student self-aware of their potential and help them become better for the employment opportunities in the future, but as per critics these tests have lost their relevance as the matter of fact that these test have lost their relevance and no longer serves the purpose of benefiting student in any way and instead put the student in pressure to perform.
A recent study states that the exit exams results in no effective difference in the rates of graduating students, this concludes that the relevancy of the exit exams have lost their creditability.
In the country, the standardization of the testing method is the essential part of the education system, but the high level testing method and exams concept came in the early 80's in the education system. The very first level of the high level testing method in the education system included the high school exam mandatory for the student in order to graduate from the high school. The idea behind this testing was to simply make sure that the students who are passing from the high school after years of education and guidance are having minimum basic skilled required to prove themselves in life and help them to sustain in the future. The testing method when it was introduced it was relevant and fruitful for the education system and youth, but as the time passed, by the evolution of the student happened at different levels and the criteria of basic skill changed as now due to the exposure in learning ways of a students, the students already have basic level of understanding of the subject ad have gone up to the practical level rather than that of the theoretical level. Thus, the testing methods for the current generation have failed and does not serves the right purpose now.