I really liked this article and found it very interesting and relevant considering I will be applying to college within the next few months. While I do believe that test scores and grades are important, I strongly agree that the college application process does not account for student’s comprehensive ability, values, and skills. Letters of recommendation and essays do help highlight these other areas, but still only show so much. So many schools are quick to dismiss students who do not measure up to their criteria academically. However, I do not believe that how smart you are determines how successful you will be. Yes grades are important, but success in the business world does always correlate with brains, rather leadership ability, social skills, problem solving and ability for development and discovery. Grant suggests that Assessment centers would solve many of these problems. These centers would essentially observe and evaluate student’s abilities outside of academics focusing more on emotional and social skills. I love the idea, but don't know how practical these centers would be. The only way I could see them working would be to make them as accessible as standardized tests are. However, I think this type of testing would help level the playing field, especially for students who are nontraditional learners or who don't have straight A's.
As someone who isn't fully represented by my test scores and application essays, I find the testing center concept extremely appealing. It looks at how students actually act on their morals. What is important about this, is that it shows if students keep their word or not. Whether or not they will step up and act on their beliefs or just passively sit and watch morally wrong incidents take place in front of them. It also looks at students emotional skills and their creative abilities, two qualities that are nearly impossible to identify in the current college application system. Emotional intelligence is crucial in any work force, it is so vital that we know how to communicate and respond to all types of people of all ages and backgrounds. The same goes for creativity. In any occupations it is important to be able to think on your feet and improvise if something goes wrong, or just from the beginning being able to approach any given situation from a unique and new approach. It gives students the ability to be evaluated in a more holistic fashion, which I think would benefit a lot of students who aren't best represented in a traditional education.
I really liked this article and found it very interesting and relevant considering I will be applying to college within the next few months. While I do believe that test scores and grades are important, I strongly agree that the college application process does not account for student’s comprehensive ability, values, and skills. Letters of recommendation and essays do help highlight these other areas, but still only show so much. So many schools are quick to dismiss students who do not measure up to their criteria academically. However, I do not believe that how smart you are determines how successful you will be. Yes grades are important, but success in the business world does always correlate with brains, rather leadership ability, social skills, problem solving and ability for development and discovery. Grant suggests that Assessment centers would solve many of these problems. These centers would essentially observe and evaluate student’s abilities outside of academics focusing more on emotional and social skills. I love the idea, but don't know how practical these centers would be. The only way I could see them working would be to make them as accessible as standardized tests are. However, I think this type of testing would help level the playing field, especially for students who are nontraditional learners or who don't have straight A's.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who isn't fully represented by my test scores and application essays, I find the testing center concept extremely appealing. It looks at how students actually act on their morals. What is important about this, is that it shows if students keep their word or not. Whether or not they will step up and act on their beliefs or just passively sit and watch morally wrong incidents take place in front of them. It also looks at students emotional skills and their creative abilities, two qualities that are nearly impossible to identify in the current college application system. Emotional intelligence is crucial in any work force, it is so vital that we know how to communicate and respond to all types of people of all ages and backgrounds. The same goes for creativity. In any occupations it is important to be able to think on your feet and improvise if something goes wrong, or just from the beginning being able to approach any given situation from a unique and new approach. It gives students the ability to be evaluated in a more holistic fashion, which I think would benefit a lot of students who aren't best represented in a traditional education.
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