Typically, no matter which college you go to, you end up taking an entrance exam of some sort. Whether it be the SAT, the ACT, or a special exam given by the community or in-state college you wish to go to, you need to take something that proves that you have the academic skills required to complete their courses. Though pretty soon, you may end up having to prove overall that you learned everything you should have learned during your time in college to get out.
Now many of us are familiar with end of course exams (end of term exams, finals, whatever). As there’s no other practical means to show your professor, or the school, that you were paying attention in class — or that your instructor taught you everything you need to know — you must take a test. The world revolves around tests, if you think about it. It’s a measure of academic performance. The measure of how much you learned is judged by the letter grades you receive at the end of the course, which is heavily weighed by the score you get on your final exam.
It’s a little too systematic if you ask me, but as I’ve said before, what other means is there? There really isn’t anything that comes to mind. But if schools didn’t think that the test you took to get into college wasn’t enough, as well as the series of tests you took to get through your degree, you may end up taking another test to finish college.
It sounds intimidating at first, and many of us may slam our heads on our desks in frustration and scream “Why?” at the thought of it. But if you look into it, you’ll find that the exit test proposed here, unlike everything else, is more of a measure of what you learned instead of a measure of academic performance. It’s an idea brought up by parents, legislators, and even employers, to make sure students are receiving the necessary skills required to enter the workforce.
The idea aimed towards grading the school more so than the students, which is meant to show where schools are failing in their curriculum so that in the end, students make get more for their money. The problem right now though is that many universities, especially the more prestigious one, are strongly opposed to this form of test. It’s a promising idea, and not much unlike what our federal government is proposing to do. But the question is, if this does get implemented nationwide, will it achieve the results we’re looking for? Only time will tell.
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