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<p>I think the black box of adcom is going to be like the black box of Malaysia Air Flight 370…never, ever found. :-S </p>
<p>It seems to me that all the maneuvering (and parental time spent working through layers of administration on through a couple of meetings at the school board level)… Compared to just letting your kid take the test that he is going to be at school for anyway… Falls somewhere on the crazy parents continuum, but maybe that’s just me. What did your kid do while everyone else was taking the standardized test that didn’t matter anyway?</p>
<p>^^ Actually, they were not at the school when the tests were given, so they could do other things. They did whatever they decided was necessary on their schedule. It ranged from additional private music lessons, sports clinic, research papers and other projects they were working on. </p>
<p>It was awesome in that they got to do tons of productive stuff during the school testing days and gained much from it. They also did not have to be at test review sessions either. And what they did with that time was way more beneficial than taking tests. You may call it crazy, but as a parents, we called it quite efficient and smart, and the kids loved it. </p>
<p>The way to look at this is to ask: what is the point of spending time and energy on anything, which does not matter in the larger scheme of things? No point. And, in terms of college, we knew none of those tests mattered.</p>
<p>…kind of feel lucky that my son had no desire to attend an Ivy League school or even what most would call a top 50. </p>
<p>^^ Oh yes, life is much easier when not stuck in that must go to an Ivy rut - better to watch it from the outside and even that is a hoot to witness. Nothing we did was meant to satisfy any schools except for the essentials of their requirements, then my kids did what they wanted after that. Somehow, that turned out to be attractive to Ivys and others. Go figure. </p>
<p>We also had no illusions on attending an Ivy or top 20 either. It was a much easier process. She might have been accepted to a top 20, but I wasn’t going to pay the price so why bother? We would have been full pay and that is not happening with 3 kids. Guess what? She didn’t even cry about not applying and survived. </p>
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<p>For our school, the results mattered.<br>
The principal asked people to go and to take the tests seriously (he had much better wording than that).</p>
<p>So my kids were happy taking the tests since knew that they didn’t have to study, and that since they probably would do above average, that it would help the school.</p>
<p>^^ I actually was not talking about the school in the larger scheme of things; I was talking about my kids’s lives and the subset of their lives re going to college. Cannot address whether the tests mattered to the school or not, as we never heard that discussed and no admin or board ever brought up that issue. Clearly, it mattered in your school.</p>
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<p>I think that’s a little bit crazy. You are trying to protect your kids too much. You don’t want them to take a simple test, just because it doesn’t count for college? So your kids only do things that matter for college? And these tests may not matter for you but they are probably important to the school. They might get special things if kids do well on it. Would it really have been that hard to take the test? And don’t they have school breaks to do “toms of productive stuff”? You should have told your kids “you don’t like testing? Deal with it!” You shouldn’t pamper them all the time or they won’t be able to deal with the real world.</p>
<p>That does make a difference, too. Our school is a Title 1 school that is not meeting federal educational standards. Personally, I think the school administration and teachers are working very hard to provide the best education possible to a very diverse population. I get frustrated sometimes, but lately there have been a number of issues that have really borne that home to me. My daughter is doing her part as one of the kids in the school who is doing well to “represent” when she takes the standardized tests. When you think about it, it really comes down to a citizenship issue. </p>
<p>And it’s not purely altruistic either…perceptions regarding school quality do affect our property values. </p>
<p>This is only my opinion but if you want to children to be successful, make sure they have completed AP Calculus, AP Physics and AP Chemistry before they graduate from high school. </p>
<p>STEM is the future whether you like it or not. Sending your kids to an expensive college to get a degree in Business Administration, Women’s Studies or Marketing is a waste of time and money and these degrees are going to become even more irrelevant in the next 20-30 years.</p>
<p>Going to Engineering school was one of the hardest things I have ever done but also one of the most rewarding! </p>
<p>In the next 30 years, average starting salaries will be directly related to how much Math you can do, people who can get through a typical Calculus sequence( Calculus I, II, III and Differential Equations) will be at the top of the food chain.</p>
<p>Not all jobs are in STEM, bschoolwiz. I work in marketing/advertising. I have never used any of the subjects you mentioned on the job, even though I took them in high school (and actually went farther in math). There is a whole world out there that requires skills engineers don’t necessarily have (or need)–creativity, strategic thinking, artistic ability, people skills, and more.</p>
<p>Engineers and scientists are important in developing products and processes–but other people are testing them among consumers, getting them to market, and sharing them with the world. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the HR people, lawyers, finance people and everyone else who contributes to the life cycle that starts in a lab or on a drafting table.</p>
<p>Families make all kinds of decisions as to how to handle the college admissions process. If it works for them, I wouldn’t dare try to disparage it. So, if it works for you to lobby against test-taking, then good. Other parents (and students) see the testing as part of the process. I would also say that a lot of this is driven by the student, and not the parent. Kids begin to see what is being done at their school, and they tend to want to be a member of that community, and not an outlier – at least not on the thing that seems to be standard fare.</p>
<p>My daughter took the AP exams that were required for her colleges, and nothing more. She did not do an exorbitant amount of prep for her exams, and while she did take the SAT twice, the difference between the two tests was the coaching that she received from her father, and a prep book that we purchased from our local bookstore. She’s now a sophomore at a “tippy-top” school.</p>
<p>My son also took what was required for his colleges – the ACT – and nothing else. He took it twice because I told him the first score was not going to cut it – at any school. We went to the bookstore the summer before his senior year and bought a study book for him, and he raised that score considerably. He then got into all of the schools to which he applied – and is a junior at one of our larger state schools.</p>
<p>It was not in my interest to campaign against the process. Both of my kids were often embarrassed when I did venture into campaigning about something. They’d much rather let it go – and then fight the battles they deemed important. For the most part, I let them take the lead on these things, and tried to support them however I could. Marching to the BOE in our local community to argue against test-taking was not a battle any of us wanted to fight – and why would it be. In our world, test-taking was a part of growing up. But as others have said, each family does what works for them. </p>
<p>@dsi411 stated, “You are trying to protect your kids too much.”</p>
<p>Or simply, we wanted them to have a different experience and life, as compared to others. And we thought there was a better way to do it. It is not protection; it is difference. So far, so good. </p>
<p>@bschoolwiz As a person who graduated with a STEM degree many years ago, who is now a marketer, I agree that the STEM majors are important, and kids with interest and talent in this area should definitely go for it. But, do you really think all the world should take the STEM path? Yes, people should take as much math as they can in their high school curriculum (AP levels all? Not sure about that…), and they should be able to work basic math problems in their head – the type they might encounter in real life. However, I have a friend who is a Chemical Engineer who encouraged his sons to go that route. One ended up flunking out mid-sophomore year, and is still trying to find his way back to something he really enjoys, that being music and languages. The other is mid-junior year and is switching to finance/economics. There is a whole lot of wasted time and money there, and a lot of broken spirits. These were smart students who were coerced into something for which they did not have passion, just because of the whole “you’ll make more money, and have a better life” discussion.</p>
<p>I am not encouraging either of my children in this way. I’m telling them that they need to major in something for which they have a certain amount of passion, and can envision doing it for life. So much for forcing a STEM major on everyone – particularly the poets and artists in our midst. After all, someone has to create the Broadway productions, and curate the libraries and art museums that make all of our lives so much richer.</p>
<p>I guess a person can choose not to have their kids complete the very easy requirements of taking EOC exams and do it ‘their’ way, but why are their kids better than the thousands upon thousands who follow the rules. In Florida, EOC exams are required in certain subjects. Period. Not a school requirement, not a district requirement, but a state requirement. Don’t want to follow the rules, homeschool or go to a virtual school, but then you don’t get a diploma from a state school district. Don’t want to record your service hours? No problem, no Bright Futures (a state, not school district program) scholarship for you. For 10 grand, I’ll conform and follow the rules.</p>
<p>I don’t roll over easily, but I pick my battles. I don’t object to AP exams and standardized test so why fight them? My kids have plenty of time for music lessons and special sports clinics, and still do what the school requires. Kids are vaccinated, attend school even when ‘nothing is going on, Mom’ and are very good at standing in line when told to. Lining up an unnecessary skill? They’ve been in 3-4 serious lock downs and came out safe, so I’m glad they learned how to follow the rules at a young age.</p>
<p>At my job, I often have to do things I think are a waste of time. I have to take compliance courses and quizzes on the covered material. I don’t want to, but it’s required. I have to attend safety training about sending confidential information, mailing requirements, ethics policies. Why? I know this stuff. I took these same tests last year. It’s a waste of time, but if I want a paycheck, I do it.</p>
<p>If my son had the morning off from AP TESTING, he would have spent it in bed sleeping. 
He hated getting up at 6:30. His first class this semester starts at 11:30. </p>
<p>Lol!!! I was thinking the same thing @momofmusician17!</p>
<p>@dsi411 - Oh, I did not realize you also said this: "You should have told your kids “you don’t like testing? Deal with it!” - You missed the target. It was we the PARENTS who did not like what we saw as tons of useless test-taking.</p>
<p>We are not against test-taking. In fact, we readily support standardized tests. But, not all standardized tests are useful in our estimation. SAT, Subject Tests, MCAT, LSATs , GMAT and the various other graduate school admissions tests that some schools give, we fully support and think are necessary. </p>
<p>I am not a fan of the current high stakes testing. Neither our school, school district, or state would let us out of taking those tests. I can’t imagine strolling in to meet the school board and having them give my family a bye. I would have to home school or pick a private to be free. </p>
<p>My response? To lobby my elected officials to roll back the testing requirements. </p>