To test or not to test?

Standardized testing was the bane of my existence last year. Free time was nonexistent because I was always studying for one test or another. From SAT subject tests to AP tests to the ACT, these standardized tests play a large part in college admissions and I knew that if I did not study, then it would be very detrimental come application season this year. Studying paid off as I did decently well on my exams, but I still do not agree with this method of testing students.

The biggest problem I have with standardized testing is that not all students have the opportunity to take difficult classes (i.e. AP classes) with good teachers. These students are automatically put at a huge disadvantage coming into the test because they did not study the material in school. Another problem deals with those who do not consider English to be their first language. This can create difficulty in comprehending the exam questions and, as a result, poor scores regardless of how well the individual knows the material.

Although I understand that there is no perfect way of judging a student, I think that standardized test scores should not play as large a role in admissions. If I could have a conversation with admissions counselors, I would ask them to consider AP test scores with much more weight because they actually reveal how much a student knows because only half the test consists of multiple choice. In addition, the material on the AP test is actually material that will be used later on in our life unlike tests like the ACT science section, which only tests ones ability to analyze data. In conclusion, I think AP tests should be weighted much more than the ACT and SAT because having a strong foundation in core subjects is much more important than timed reading comprehension or the ability to analyze random data.

Confusion

I'm going to go ahead and be very honest - I hate Beloved. It is a very tedious read and it requires so much thinking. I spent three hours the other day reading pages 60 - 146 (not including reading journals). Three hours. That means my average rate was a page every two minutes. Maybe it's just me, but it's taking me ages to analyze everything I read.

Most of the confusion in the book comes from Beloved. I simply can't grasp my mind around the fact that she is a human and a ghost. For example, in the scene when Sethe is at the clearing, she thinks of Baby Suggs caressing her neck and then she suddenly starts feeling like she's being choked. Although Denver accuses Beloved of choking her mother, Beloved denies all this. In my mind, this was very odd because Beloved was able to choke Sethe even though she was sitting next to her (not behind her). It makes it seem like she is half ghost and half human. The whole scene was very supernatural.

It is possible that I misinterpreted that scene, but that was the part where I just got really annoyed with the book. Why is it so difficult to read?!? It's probably a good thing that I am reading these challenging books because I'll have to take a few English classes in college, but it makes me so much more thankful that I am going into engineering. I don't like thinking about such abstract and interpretive texts.

Water for Elephants Review

Water for Elephants was a book that really piqued my interest. The story line was simple - Jacob Jankowski, a senior at Cornell University who was studying Veterinary Science, was told that his parents died in a car wreck. This story took place during the Great Depression, though, and consequently Jacob was left with nothing. His tuition at Cornell was not completely paid off, so he was forced to drop out. With no home or any relatives to return to, he made a spontaneous decision - to jump on a train. The train turned out to be the circus. He was given an ultimatum when he asked to join: become the veterinarian and get limited pay or get red-lighted (thrown off the train in the middle of the night). He joined and from here he went on to have an amazing adventure with Marlena, the amazing horse rider, and Rosie, the elephant. 

This story really answered my research question on how humans react when they are put in life-or-death situations. Jacob responded to this situation by creating alliances with others and using his knowledge from college to help him get a job. This shows that people will dig deep into their skill set to find a way to survive.

I recommend this book to everyone. It has a lot of humor and the plot is very interesting. Some scenes, however, are very sexual and graphic, so I would not recommend it to younger audiences.