These problems, however, are purely external, and say nothing about the emotional trauma which this testing system puts students through. America's most famous standardized test, the SAT (presently named Scholastic Assessment Test, formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test), provides the best example of the potential emotional harm to students. According to a report in last month's Newsweek, the long-term effects of the SAT are not negligible. This takes into account the domino-effect theories linking SAT scores to success in life, and the wide range of fields (including unlikely areas such as real estate) that are indirectly influenced to some degree by the SAT. A considerable number of students--the overwhelming majority of the private school population--are beginning to see the test as an indicator of their value as human beings. The higher the SAT score, the better the person.

Granted, standardized testing is a necessary tool in determining whether a student has a sound educational foundation and as such, cannot be completely abandoned. However, the prevailing notion of standardized tests as "the goal"--inciting unhealthy stratification and competition--conflicts with their utility as simple diagnostic tools. In fact, many of the items students are tested on are based on an arbitrary standard of what we think students "should" know.

By dehumanizing teachers and demoralizing students, standardized testing unintentionally contributes to the state of decadence present in American education. Ridiculous as it sounds today, Harvard University originally championed the SAT (the first major standardized test) as a means to achieving a classless society. However, the system implemented has achieved other, unintended purposes. Instead of the mechanism leading society towards utopia, testing has become an absurd beast ravaging American academia.

Malik B. Ali is a sophomore English major at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga.