“Tired student hates school.”

My topic isn’t too new or shocking, and it has definitely been done time and time before. However, it’s not my goal to bash the system in this article, instead, I want to unearth the underlying culprit for the violent and reoccurring attack on the school system. It’s my goal to figure out why songs like Alice Cooper’s “Schools Out” resonate so much with their demographic.

So, I’m going to promise you, my readers, that I won’t allow this article to sound like every other student’s lament, if you promise to bear with me and read this article for what it is- not a complaint, but a step towards a solution- a world in which the anti-school attitude is obsolete, or at least less common.

To do this, I’m to dissolve three specific components of “the system” that I believe are the most to blame for student resentment to try and find out why they get the reaction. These factors will be standardized testing, teacher’s role, and the responsibility of students.

Standardized testing has become an increasingly large presence in the education system. In fact, The Washington Post writes that an average American public school student will take 112 standardized tests between preschool and 12th grade. However, I don’t think that’s a good thing.

Standardized tests cause students endless anxiety, but don’t give enough back to make all the angst worthwhile. A National Research Council report concludes that test-based incentive programs don’t work. Nobody wants to waste their time, students included.

Which could explain why students are so resistant to the education system… After all, it’s hard to justify staying awake through class if the only objective is learning to pass a futile test.