As a New York high school student, I can say that standardized testing is hurting our nation's students and weakening our standing on the world academic stage.
We now learn according to what is "on the test", and are faced with enormous pressure to do well on these tests by our teachers because poor grades means they're out of a job, the school administration because it means money, and ourselves because even if we do good ALL year, if we fail the test we take the class over. So the students are simply used as pawns by the school for money, the teachers as a source for their jobs and the government so they can boast high test scores and smart children.
Oh, and even Kindergartners are facing this garbage
The system is broken, and that's why I am calling for an end to standardized testing