Resolved: Public high school students in the United States ought not to be required to pass standard

LD style Definitions: Ought: Used to indicate moral obligation or duty Standardized exit exams: A test that if passed, graduates you from high school. Graduate: To advance in a new level of skill, or achievement. Observation 1: Too much government is bad. Too much government is never good. The great society act is one example, on how government intervention, harms the systems it is trying to help. The act tried to help, education, Medicare, and Medicaid. 1) The Great society act created the public schools we have today, that are atrocious. The act gave the schools 1 billion dollars to reform, but the schools have wasted that money, and the chance of a good system. The government failed to help with education. 2) The Government lists Medicare as a "high-risk" government program in need of reform, in part because of its vulnerability to fraud and partly because of its long-term financial problems. Ronald Reagan states, "If you don't stop Medicare and I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. George H.W. Bush states, "Described Medicare in 1964 as "socialized medicine." The government made a bad system. This is why we can't have standardized tests because it all stems from the failures of the great society. So we look at the past to predict the future. Valued Premise: Quality Education, The only way public schools in the United States will have quality education is by keeping government standards and regulations out. They have already corrupted the public school system, and by implementing standardized test, the government is taking more control, and telling the students what is important to learn, so the students can't make choices for themselves. There are two impacts, 1), by negating the resolution you are letting the government take more control of the public schools when they have already destroyed them. 2), By setting the standardized test as the standard the government is telling the students what is important to learn, therefore not letting the students make the own choices. Valued Criterion: Freedom from government standards, and regulations in education, The United States government has already corrupted the public school systems, and essentially destroyed the youth of America. By voting negative the government is going to continue to make the standard and corrupt the schools more. Joe Turtel a respected writer states: "One reason public schools get away with educational failure, year after year, is because they are run by left-leaning politicians and school officials who passionately believe that government should control your children's mind, values, and future." This is saying that the public schools control the youth of America, and by adopting standardized tests, this will worsen." Also Ronald Reagan who is a much respected former president that did many things for America stated, "Governments duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Contention 1: Failures will continue to happen with the standardized tests. In schools, teachers teach the students what will be on the oncoming test, if we negate, the teacher will teach the standardized test. There will be no change in failures, because the teacher has failed to teach the regular class, and why would he/she, be able to teach the standardized test adequately? There would still be many failures, and the government would eventually lower the standard of the test, making it just as easy to pass high school, thus going back to where they started. Impacts: 1), by negating we are just simply going to reduce the standard because there will be failures, just as there are now. Sub-point A: The public school system is awful. According to Melissa Kelly who was appointed to in 2001 to represent district 9 which covers a portion of Baltimore county, Maryland states, "In Florida, every school earns a 'grade' based not only on these test scores, but also on other issues such as attendance. Schools which make A's get extra funding. Schools which receive F's have one year to 'shape up before the school gets less funding." These public schools can cut corners to give A's to get funding. These schools are run by the government, and the government is letting this happen under their watch, and they can not run the public school systems this way any longer. Sub-point B: NCTM The NCTM is against the standardized testing, they are very well respected in the math, and learning world. They state, "Much class time is spent on reviewing and testing, and thus there is less time for the regular curriculum. As the number of assessments grow, the time for teaching decreases." Actually because of the standardized tests there will be less time for teaching regular curriculum, and the students will be learning less. Contention 2: The United States needs to adopt another type of system, According to the fair test website, the national website for open and fair testing they state," The U.S. is the only economically advanced nation to rely heavily on multiple-choice tests. Other nations use performance-based assessment where students are evaluated on the basis of real work such as essays, projects and activities. Ironically, because these nations do not focus on teaching to multiple choice tests, they even score higher than U.S. students on those kinds of tests." Other nations use these types of methods that require individual thinking and becoming independent and thinking for themselves. Finland teenagers are among the smartest in the world, and they have very little standardized testing. The public schools make sure that the teachers are well trained and responsible. And instead of pushing kids to GT, they help with the struggling students. Every teacher has a master degree, and the government gives them more freedom. The Finland dropout rate is 4% to US's 25. We need to adopt Finland's method. Contention 3: Standardized exit exams don't add any value to high school diplomas. These tests don't promote knowledge, creativity, or the skills and habits needed for success in college and the workforce. Many college professors and employers and employers say that high school graduates must be able to analyze conflicting explanations, support arguments with evidence, solve complex problems that have no obvious answer, reach conclusions, conduct research, and engage in the give-and-take of ideas. Also needed are attributes such as good study skills, time management, awareness of one's performance and persistence. Exit exams do not test most of these important qualities, so colleges and employers don't have much value for test scores. This graduation requirement may deny a diploma to someone with all the skills needed in college and the workforce because they may not be able to demonstrate ability on a standardized test.