The Commission on the Future of Higher Education, appointed by President Bush, is beginning to discuss introducing standardized testing on the college level. The panel is contemplating a nationwide system of testing writing, critical thinking and problem solving for college students to gauge the quality of education at different universities. Although a universal system that accurately can gauge a college's academic excellence is sound in theory, there simply are too many variables for standardized testing to effectively work in the college setting.
Although standardized testing in high schools is, unfortunately, necessary to provide a basic level of education, the higher echelons of education are simply too diversified and complicated to follow the same standards. The main reason standardized testing works in high school is that, in theory, every student needs and should learn the basics of multiple disciplines. However, with the inherent specialization in college - with a few liberal arts requirements - students complete much of their course work in their major. For example, it would be too complicated to set up a math exam that would adequately challenge most engineering students and not be completely over the head of most English majors.
By the time students have reached the collegiate level, they already have made their choice of university based on the program qualifications, environment and - albeit mainly subjective - rankings. Students have entered into specialized programs ranging in diversity from engineering to performing arts. Students receive different educations in different areas, which cannot be compared through an examination of literary skills and critical reasoning. Finding a way to objectively gauge the level of education at a given institution is a noble goal, but given the nature of ranking colleges and programs, it is likely an unobtainable one. There merely isn't a realistic way to go about it.
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Standardization infeasible in college
