students of public high schools ought not be required to pass standardized exit exams to graduate

I stand to negate the resolution: public high school students in the united states ought not be required to pass standardized exit exams to graduate. My value for this round will be that of education. Education is what enables humans to grow and experience life to its fullest. By valuing education we are motivated to act in the best interest of students, which is what this topic should be about. My standard will be that of extrinsic motivation. This is defined as: the desire or push to perform a certain behavior based on the potential external rewards that may be received as a result (dictionary.com). Extrinsic motivation should be the standard because it does stimulate an individual to perform a certain task even if there is no interest in it. However, it is not right to say that the person does not get satisfaction from working or completing the task. In fact, the person does get gratification-only that the external reward extends the duration of the anticipated reward even if interest is long gone. Extrinsic motivation is an avenue for the individual to set goals. By aiming for the prize, the individual will consort to playing by the rules and even develop persistence towards getting that reward. I contend that exit exams should not be disregarded by their imperfections. Nothing in this world is perfect; this goes for standardized exit exams as well. But, should we really disregard a system that tests the basic skills needed to perform well in a professional occupation? Donald McAdams, explains why they shouldn't be Education Author, Summer 2002, Find Articles Webpage, Accessed 8/12/08, http://findarticles.com... Yes, we should recognize that a test measures true ability and random influences. Yes, measured gains are noisy and unstable. Yes, socioeconomic and demographic factors have some influence on measured student progress. And indeed, scaling is a problem. No standardized test is perfect, yet we use them all the time, and to good effect. Physicians, lawyers, accountants, financial planners, real-estate brokers, and pilots all take high-stakes tests. These tests ensure that professionals have the knowledge necessary to serve the public well. Aside from the many professions listed in the card there are others that require base line knowledge of skills. This is what tests are designed to do; they test the basic skills that a student is supposed to be learning in their high school curriculum. This is actually very accommodating to graduating students in that they will be able to assess the areas they need to improve upon to be ready for the real world. Also, in today's' society, one can not be picky when choosing a profession According to the bureau of labor statistics as of September 4, 2009 In August, the number of unemployed persons increased by 466,000 to 14.9million, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7percent. The rate had been little changed in June and July, after in-creasing 0.4 or 0.5 percentage point in each month from December 2008through May. Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons has risen by 7.4 million, and the unemployment rate has grown by 4.8 percentage points. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (10.1 percent), whites (8.9 percent), and Hispanics (13.0 percent) rose in August. The jobless rates for adult women (7.6 percent), teenagers (25.5 percent), and blacks (15.1 percent) were little changed over the month. The unemployment rate for Asians was 7.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted. The unemployment rate in the US is high enough to justify not abandoning tests all together. These tests as stated before are designed to test the basics in a students' education. Not being able to pass the basics gives no incentive for a manager to higher that student. So if a student wishes to acquire a job, then passing these exit exams will give them an advantage to those that don't. Also, without exit exams colleges may not look to a diploma as a means to judge what a student has learned. AMERICAN DIPLOMA PROJECT, "Ready or Not", 2004, accessed 8.23.2009: www.achieve.org/files/ADPreport_7.pdf Most high school graduates need remedial help in college. More than 70 percent of graduates quickly take the next step into two- and four-year colleges, but at least 28 percent of those students immediately take remedial English or math courses. Transcripts show that during their college careers, 53 percent of students take at least one remedial English or math class. The California State University system found that 59 percent of its entering students were placed into remedial English or math in 2002. The need for remedial help is undoubtedly surprising to many graduates and their parents -- costly, too, as they pay for coursework that yields no college credit. As we can see, students are taking remedial courses in order to relearn skills they should have learned in high school. Without standardized exit exams there will be no way to gauge what students have learned. This is not appealing to colleges in that students they admit will be relearning basic skills and not taking advanced study courses to ready themselves for the real world. Lastly I contend that even failing an exit exam has positive outcomes empirically Richard P. Phelps, PhD, Editor Educational Horizons, Research Fellowship at Educational Testing Services and American Education Finance Association, Defending Standardized Testing p.44, 2005 These outcomes related to student learning and related concerns are corroborated by testimony from students themselves. For example, in a recent study (Mass Insight Education, 2002) interviews were conducted with 140 randomly selected urban high school students regarding their perceptions about the MCAS. The results revealed that: 67% of students who failed the MCAS the first time they took it said that, as a result, they are working harder in school; 65% said that they pay more attention in class since failing the MCAS; 74% reported that they consider themselves to be more able in math, reading or writing because they have to pass the MCAS in order to graduate; and • 53% said that they get more help and attention from teachers since getting their MCAS results. As we can see from this two example high stakes tests like exit exams have positive effects even if they are failed. The over all improvement we can see through this is student motivation. If students wish to graduate, then they will be more motivated to learn what material will be on the test or ask for help in understanding it. So even if these tests are failed they lead to over all greater student motivation and increased education.