An eight-year-old walks into a Texas classroom, after returning from winter break. It’s the start of test preparation for the STAAR in the spring. 

A collective mindset begins to circulate in the heads of classmates. 

“Now is the time to get serious,” says the teacher. 

The students realize that their score on the test may end up holding them back a year. 

Long gone are the days of a valuable, public school education. As young as third grade, Texas students prepare for standardized testing; many spend half a year revisiting subjects for those four, glorious hours. 

But is a brief snippet of TEK material really cumulative of everything learned during the year?

The answer is simple: no.

The point of state tests is to analyze the academic level of schools, so states are able to decide what should be done to better the effectiveness of the education system put in place. 

Although its intentions are seemingly innocent, it seems that the process has become corrupt.

Consequently, students waste precious time glossing over topics that the state deems “mandatory,” and develop a toxic competitive edge in order to keep up with their peers. 

There’s not a problem with Texas public educators, there’s a problem with its system.