Measuring and assessing our children

I believe that the only thing that should be measured on a child is their growth development in relation to other children. I am not a fan of standardized tests being used to measure intelligence.  Likewise I do not think that we should measure the feelings of children.  No two people are exactly the same in all aspects so it would be unfair to compare people.   We assess the abilities of children, often forgetting that each child learns and grows at their own pace.

Jamaica is a fascinating place and I pride myself on knowing so much about their heritage.  Though corruption runs rampant throughout the mainland, there are still so good points to make about Jamaica.  In Jamaica, children begin to attend school as early as 2 years old.  Though school begins early in life and most school-aged children are in school in Jamaica, the test scores on standardized tests are not very good with only 60% of the students averaging passing grades.  There are 5 or 6 standardized tests that are given throughout the year but many students are still illiterate by the end of the school year.  

Again, I do not believe that standardized tests should be used to measure intelligence. There are no two people that are exactly the same or that learn the same.  Some people test well, others do not. I do not think that it is fair to judge someone's intelligence by way of standardized testing as there are certain factors, i.e.. having a bad day, hunger, tiredness, etc. that could affect one's ability to concentrate and do well.

References
 No Author.(2013). Jamaica. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/index.html

(2013). Standardized tests. Retrieved from:

http://teaching.about.com/od/assess/a/Standardized-Testing.htm