In Georgia before graduating from high school you are required to take a certain test. This is a test that evaluates your knowledge of everything that has supposedly been taught the entire time you were in high school. No single test should decide your future by determining whether you’re ready for the harsh society known as the real world. Should students’ futures be left in the hands of Georgia’s high school spectators?

The graduation test consists of four parts: math, science, English/literature, and social studies. The state of Georgia forces students to take this judgment test in the middle of their eleventh grade year. Basically since you have not obtained the full knowledge that you would have in your last year of school, you venture into the test with a vague conception of the testing materials. Most people say guessing always helps in times that you don’t know the answers, well I say, “if we were taught ALL the materials we needed to know instead of just the ones that will cause us to slide by then we wouldn’t have to guess all the time.

In recent years at my school, second to the drop-out rate, the graduation test is the reason our most prominent or “B” average students fail to graduate. As an illustration, take a middle class student, never had any discipline problems, perfect attendance, all around scholar, but is not the best test taker. Now he has to deal with one of the most important tests that will ever occur in his entire high school career, he panics and fails two sections. Granted that he now has four chances to pass the failed sections, without surpassing those parts there will be no need for the cap and gown. Consequently there are people that just don’t do well on tests, they will know the materials before the test but on test day it flees their mind.

As my year progresses, I find myself becoming frantic about the test that is to come in the near March. I come across pondering all the “what if’s”, “What if I don’t pass the first time?”, “What if I fail the next time?”, “What if I never graduate?”, What if I never attend college?” Then there are other questions, “What will I tell my family?”, “Will they even accept me or will I have to face their devastation from knowing I tried my best and still failed?’ No I would want them to rejoice from me accomplishing one of the great tasks yet to come before me!

School is supposed to help and guide us as students in the right path for success. Forcing students to take a test to choose whether students are prepared to graduate is preposterous and makes it appear as if our retained knowledge is at question, when the grades are clear evidence. This mistrust is sending students the message that we are inept of achieving the goals and aspirations we have detained since we were first asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The state may say our marks are low but our ambitions are high.