“Happy New Year, OF SCHOOL!” Homer and Marge Simpson needless to say are pumped that their children are no longer under their roof 24 hours a day and have to attend the public education system once again (Simpsons is on its 20th season… Shouldn’t these kids be a little older by now?). This statement probably holds true for hundreds of thousands of American parents who desire nothing more than to get away from constant torture that they produced. But the real story takes place after the students of Springfield Elementary learn that they will have to take a government issued standardized test to decide the fate of finance in their school.
To prevent poor scores, the Superintendant and Principal of the school decided to prevent certain children from taking the test, after all it’s not about students learning but the money that the school could receive. This idea was very funny and yet according to Doc Rod, what some schools do to get the underachievers from doing just that. I couldn’t believe that this practice actually exists. And then I remembered that society isn’t perfect and the Simpsons wouldn’t include that scene if it wasn’t an actual problem with our society.
Lisa played the biggest role in this episode. Lisa is a great student but became overly stressed when the time came to take the standardized test as part of the “No Child Left Alone Act.” This scene had refreshed horrible memories from my past; I had to take the New York State Regents tests. The NYSRT a series of tests that New York students are required to take and pass in order to pass high school. Often these tests are long, boring and cover 200% more information then we actually learned in high school. These tests add to the stress levels of students, and like Lisa, students do crack under pressure and fail miserably.
In closing… 1) Stress shouldn’t be placed on students when they are so young. 2) I have two words for the New York State Board of Regents, “**** YOU!”
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