The Hidden Irrationality Behind Exams

 I think a big question we must first ask ourselves is what is considered student achievement? A student can obviously attain achievement on test scores and SAT scores. What is it that schools desire students to achieve? If test scores mark student achievement, I believe that technology will not change a student’s performance in school, but rather change which students perform better than others. Those that excel at test taking might do poorly on assignments and projects that rely heavily on technology. While on the other hand, students who are more hands on, experiential learners might agree that they do better than taking a written exam.

Student achievement seems a very broad and general category and could pertain to many different kinds of achievement. Sam Roberson’s article seems not to stress on how well students achieve in school but rather what kind of achievement that schools pursue. He addresses the issue of authentic learning by arguing that schools focus on a “broad but shallow catalogue of behaviors, skills, and knowledge sets, that for all practical purposes serve little prepare students for the future.” Are students really learning in the classroom? And if so, how do exams demonstrate the student’s full understanding of a topic if all they are doing is just rote memory? Roberson backs up his claim with an example from the Industrial Revolution: the assembly line; he illustrates the idea that authentic learning has been reduced to simply laws and formulae due to the assembly line. Understanding or thinking became separated from performing instead of thinking creatively in order to understand a concept. He states, “Rarely, if ever, are students oriented holistically to learning where they have the opportunity to learn in depth and with practical application a discipline or subject that would allow them to become anything remotely resembling a skilled and competent craftsman.”

So, I will ask you again: what is considered student achievement? Is student achievement a bunch of numbers on a test? Or is student achievement more than just rote memory? Perhaps student achievement involves a student’s full potential to be successful in the real world. If so, than yes, technology will improve student achievement. Schools must incorporate technology into the classroom in order to fully prepare their students for the world outside of school. However, like Sam Roberson declared, by “ignoring the demands of the world outside the school, schools are retreating into irrelevance rather than charging full face into the challenges and opportunities of the future.”