Compare and Contrast on Standardized Testing For Homeschoolers Essay
Parents around the world who home school their children are willing to take the standardize tests while others are not. Between the two opposing viewpoints, each gives an abundant amount of examples to defend their side. In Sandra Foyt’s “Standardized Tests Can Be Helpful for Homeschoolers,” as a mother she stresses her viewpoint that testing can help improve the learning of her child because the testing brings to her attention what her child’s strengths and weaknesses are. Terrie Lynn Bittner’s “Homeschoolers Should Not Take Standardized Tests” argues that homeschoolers should not have to take standardized tests because she feels testing requires only memorization and not learning Both articles seem to achieve the same amount of evidence intended for the audience of parents who home school their children as well as faculty at public schools, but they both lack credibility. Bittner does a better job stressing her argument because she explains exclusively the affects of what standardize testing is doing to the student’s learning whereas Foyt’s argument finds standardize testing to be helpful in order to improve the learning of her child rather than what it could be doing to other children. Bittner relies on sympathy because she is trying to gain the attention from other home schooling parent’s to try to put standardize testing to a stop while Foyt is defending her argument through the use of her own experiences rather than facts.
In Bittner’s article, she adequately achieves her argument in providing plenty of examples to prove her view that homeschoolers should not have to take standardize tests. In doing so she states many instances where homeschoolers are not taught the same way a public child is therefore a standardize test could potentially harm their sense of learning. For example, in her section ‘Testing Hurts Students,’ Bittner explains that “In addition, taking a state-mandated test would require homeschoolers to teach a state-mandated curriculum, since the public school curriculum is designed to teach the test.” This claim appears to prove her side that taking a standardize test could harm the children’s ability to learn because they are being taught what will be on the test rather than learning the material in the book. Bittner continues talking about the affects of what standardize testing is doing to the child’s learning by stating that, “Testing cannot adequately measure the way homeschoolers learn. Homeschoolers often do not work systematically through a textbook,” in her segment titled ‘Concepts, Not Facts.’ Bittner’s claim explains that homeschoolers are not taught the same way public children are because they focus more on a subject and jump around a book rather than learning a book chapter by chapter. Moreover, Bittner’s argument relies solely on what the effects of testing is doing to the learning of the homeschoolers therefore proving that her argument is better than the opposing side because she provides more facts rather than providing an article on experiences.
As a mother, Foyt home schools her child. Although she finds the testing to be helpful she lacks the use of credible sources to help back her claim. She states in her section titled ‘Reassuring and Helpful’ that “Even though he is doing exceedingly well, the tests also showed us that there were topics or skills that needed review and reinforcement.” Foyt seems a bit biased because she is only viewing her side and not what the affects of the testing could potentially be doing to her sons learning. Foyt also states that standardize testing may not be helpful in the public school setting but she finds them helpful in her household because she can see how well her son has progressed between each standardize test. Also, Foyt’s argument may not help persuade her audiences that standardize testing are helpful when she states in her section,
