I’m in the “above average” range when it comes to standardized testing, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy them. I am telling you a student’s view on No Child Left Behind, a response to Matt Entenza’s guest column.

I’ll just agree fully right now. We lose important classes because we have to pass state tests, so we can have money for our schools. But some students just are bad test takers, are dyslexic, just became a citizen. So fund us because we need the support. To the state it doesn’t matter, to them it matters that we beat the other state. When students don’t have the tools they need to succeed in a job they want, they will dislike their plain career. Don’t make the test determine much, make it a study on student knowledge or a school evaluation for teachers.

The weight of the test is pressuring schools to drop classes, learning in anyway should be good and rewarding. Not embarrassing or punishment. Stop making an hour and a half test restrict us from new ideas and creative thinking. Let’s put No Child Left Behind behind us.

Jasmine Hanson

Alden