September 27, 2015

Exam Results

Background: I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate is a spoken word by Suli Breaks. Suli is a spoken word artist that has created a multitude of poems with important social messages that challenge everything from the American dream to the hurt of social media. His spoken word about exams perfectly explains how hard it is to be successful in a hypocritical society, where our test scores seem to determine our fate. Suli has been on multiple TV interviews and is successful on YouTube as well. He shares his writing, favorite books, and articulately discusses his opinions on camera, even when improvising.

It's my junior year, which entails lots of big decisions, tests, and thoughts of the future - for me and for my peers. PSAT, SAT, and ACT exams loom ahead, and entrance exams and college applications aren't far behind either. Many kids will be applying to schools that hold the path to their dream career, and all that stands between them and reaching that dream path is doing well on the ACT. Or getting a 5 on an AP Exam. It's scary. Tests really can change our course in life, and many students find themselves taking a different path after high school because they didn't do well enough on the ACT to go to their dream school. Or their standardized test scores weren't high enough to take advanced classes in high school. They never realized effort trumps talent. They were made to feel unsuccessful simply because of a number from a test. 

In his spoken word about standardized tests, titled I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate, Suli Breaks explains how hard it is to be successful when test scores have such an impact on our lives. Students are taught that college and getting a degree is the only and best option. Suli tells otherwise. And he addresses the students who don't score well on tests and are made to feel lesser because they don't test well. Just because you get a C on a test doesn't mean you don't have an A+ brain when it comes to art. Maybe your focus is math, not grammar, but it doesn't mean you don't have talents in a different subject. And in a society where education seems to dictate everything, Suli Breaks reminds us to not measure ourselves and others by exam results. Numbers can't represent people, and we must decide for ourselves to not let scores decide our paths. For many successful, happy students, this is all familiar. But for many more, Suli's words are a wake-up call, and those people are rising to decide their own paths, instead of accepting their test scores and mediocrity. Suli is a role model not only in this writing, but in many others. I encourage anyone reading this to go check out all his other work on YouTube. He's a talented, outspoken person that shares strong messages.

Stay awesome,

Claire

I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate by Suli Breaks here.
More of Suli's work can be found on his YouTube channel here.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with what you said about exam scores and the "effort trumps talent" comment because especially with standardized tests like the ACT, you could study for it, but not do very well like you could have on another test that was specific to a sole topic.

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  2. Claire, I love your blog posts!!! Exams are quite daunting, and I think your interpretation of Suli's spoken words are on point!

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  3. I think everyone in high school can relate to this and how we're judged by numbers and scores, not effort and intelligence. There are too many amazing people who are intelligent, in and out of the classroom, but who get labeled as mediocre because they aren't the best in some certain classes. Just the same, there are some people who spend all their time on school because they know they aren't the most naturally talented, yet lazy students who are naturally gifted still get ranked better because of how our school system works. This is really a great thing to talk about, I think. Keep up the good work.

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  4. I think everyone in high school can relate to this and how we're judged by numbers and scores, not effort and intelligence. There are too many amazing people who are intelligent, in and out of the classroom, but who get labeled as mediocre because they aren't the best in some certain classes. Just the same, there are some people who spend all their time on school because they know they aren't the most naturally talented, yet lazy students who are naturally gifted still get ranked better because of how our school system works. This is really a great thing to talk about, I think. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete