Helpful or Harmful: You Make the Decision
by Keith Zimmer

 Before I get into this column I must say that June 8, 2003 will go down as one of the saddest days of my whole life. On this day Tioga County lost one of its own. On this day young Jarid Henry took his life  unexpectedly. No one really knows why, but unfortunately it happened. I am not going to lie to you people and say Jarid was my best friend because honestly he was not, because I, like many others misunderstood Jarid. 

 Jarid was a good kid who just never found his calling in life. Honestly I liked Jarid but I often stayed away from him due to the amount of trouble he got in. I realize now that this was a major mistake on my part, and there is nothing I can do to take it back. One thing I will do though is dedicate this column to the memory of Jarid Henry. In this column I will write about how I feel regents exam testing hurts a student's education  more than it helps it. I know that Jarid would love this column because he hated school and everything that had to do with it, including testing. So, Jarid, this one's for you, REST IN PEACE.

 As I look back on my junior year at Owego Free Academy I think it was a pretty good year. My grades were better than normal, and I did not get in much trouble at all this year. If there was one thing that made this year as bad as any other year was the fact that I knew that at the end of the year I would be faced with three Regents exam tests in Biology, English, and American History. If there is one thing I hate about school it is end of the year Regents testing; it generally makes everyone stressed out, not just the students but the teachers as well. I really cannot stand these tests, not because I have to take them, but because everyone has become obsessed with them. The students need to pass them in order to graduate, and the teachers need the students to pass them in order to keep their jobs. In my opinion this is insane. When did education become solely about testing?   Most of the time when you ask an educator why they became an educator they say it is because they love to teach, and to reach out to the children of the world. Well, with a greater emphasis put on testing has the principal of teaching just for the love of teaching been lost? Perhaps the teachers are not the problem. I believe the true problem lies with the school districts itself and the state of New York; as of late I have seen increased competition between school districts to make their respective schools have the highest test scores. 

 Now while I understand and respect the school districts for trying to make their school the best school in the state, I believe this just adds pressure to the students, and makes them a pawn in the school districts'  competition to be the best. 
 I think Regents exams take the fun out of certain subjects that could be very interesting: two  examples of this are the subjects of Biology and English 11. I do not know how many times I have heard my English or Biology teacher say this year that "I would go into this subject further, but to be honest the Regents does not care about it."  

 Once again this is insane. Maybe the Regents does not care about these certain topics, but we the students do, and is that not what it is suppose to be about? It bothers me that a bunch of old men/women that have not been in school for years get to tell us what we have to learn about. The teachers have little time to make education interesting. Long gone are the days where a teacher could teach a whole lesson based on a game or a homemade fun-filled activity. Teachers seem less inspired to teach these days, they seem to be going through the motions of collecting a pay check, and it really shows in their teaching. 

 I say in order to make education inspirational once again like it is in the lower grades the state needs to put more of the teaching/learning process back in the hands of the teachers/students then you will finally see education at its finest.

 Once again the views I express in this column are solely my opinion. I am not asking you to like my opinion, I'm telling you to love it! 

 If you have any questions or comments about this article you can contact me at keithzimmer@yahoo.com.