Rachel+Choi's+Persuasive+Speech

=Pre-writing the speech =

I changed some parts while I wrote my essay. Therefore the examples on this attachment might not be the same as the ones in my actual speech. :)

 = Final Draft = 


 Ladies and Gentlemen, are you concerned about your future? Do you think about what you will grow up to be and how your life will be after high school? Congratulations. You are a typical high school student. While your future career may be some years away, I am sure you are concerned about the college you will attend. College admissions has always been a great concern for high school students all over the world, and the details of what it takes to get into this college or that college has always been a topic of discussion. When we apply to colleges, there are some crucial things that college administration officials look at. I am sure everyone in this classroom knows what those are: your GPA, extracurricular activities, and standardized tests. I believe determining a student’s ability through his or her GPA is reasonable, because the GPA reflects how diligently a student studied in school. Also, a student’s extracurricular activities show how active he was. However… What about standardized tests? Can you honestly tell me that those tests are fair to everyone? Are they really objective and bias-free? Why are we putting ourselves into so much pain for unnecessary things? Even though standardized tests are meant to be a tool to compare the test takers in an objective manner, they have been criticized based on numerous factors. For one, many standardized tests are criticized for their lack of objectivity. Another criticism is that students with more financial resources have an advantage over students from lower income brackets. I strongly believe the standardized tests should be abolished because they do not truly measure a person’s ability to do well in college.

The standardized tests are often criticized because of their subjectivity. These tests are products of a company named “College Board.” What is the goal of most firms and companies? Yes, making the greatest profit possible. College Board has a monopoly in the standardized test market because in order to apply to decent colleges, students must take the SAT and AP exams. In 2006, this so-called “non-profit” organization had 582.9 million dollars in revenue. College Board is definitely violating its non-profit status. All sellers want their customers to buy more of their products. So, to raise revenue, would not any test maker change the rules so that students have to take it more than once? The standardized tests are simply a device for College Board to earn money. Even though many claim that these tests determine how smart a student is, they cannot escape the accusation of being biased and subjective. Of course, the problems on these tests are checked and administrated by professionals. The test makers also correct big or obvious biases. However, they are humans and it is a known fact that being one hundred percent objective for a human is almost impossible. The only objective part of the standardized tests is the grading part, which is done by machines. Bill Ayers, an American elementary education theorist claimed that the “Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, content knowledge, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning.” These skills listed by Ayer, which are not measured by standardized tests, are a few of the most important factors that make a person who he or she is. If the standardized tests were not able to tell who the student is, why would we need them when applying to colleges? Using SAT exams and other standardized exams to determine a student’s ability is like using a spelling test to evaluate an athlete’s ability.

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, have you ever seen a student with a test-prep book and loads of tutor schedules for SAT exams? I am sure you are one of those students. Many teenagers claim that the test prep books and getting tutors for the standardized exams help them a lot. What about the student who cannot get those kinds of luxuries? How come the tests that are meant to compare students from any type of background only advantageous to those who can afford test prep courses? Is the standardized tests’ function to differentiate between those who are wealthy enough to get high scores and those who are not? Preparing for these standardized exams require a lot of materials such as practice tests, programs, books, private tutoring sessions, and online sources. None of them are free and they are quite expensive, as well. How does the College Board expect the students from low-income brackets to afford the materials to score well? This situation is similar to one in __Jane Eyre__ by Charlotte Brontë, Jane is not able to get a decent education because she is an orphan and is abused by her relatives. She is an intelligent girl who loves reading and thinks maturely. However, financial issue is one of the reasons why she was not able to be educated well. I do not believe the welfare of a student’s family should determine what college one enters. Why should the students from poor families lose their chance of showing the college administration officials their ability? How can the matter of being rich or poor possibly determine a person’s ability to perform well in college?

Has anyone in this classroom never been nervous before the SAT exam or AP exam? It is a psychological fact that many tend to be nervous before big tests, such as standardized tests. This definitely gives the students who are better at taking tests more advantage. Why are test taking skills crucial for college? Does it even say anything about what kind of person the student is? There is a possibility that the smartest and the most diligent student could fail the exam due to pressure and stress. Do the low scores of this student tell the college administration officials that he is a bad student? One who does not study hard? How can standardized tests tell the ability of the students to work hard in colleges when other factors get in the way? It is very likely that the student may be anxious or fail to manage testing time wisely on the day of the exam. Let’s say there was a girl with GPA 4.0 for all four years, student council for four years, participated in many sports, and even has her own club. However, on the SAT exam day, her condition was extremely poor and she was under a lot of pressure because it was her last chance for SAT before applying to colleges. This brilliant girl gets lower than 2000 on her exam. Does this mean that she was a bad student who never studied hard in school? This clearly shows that the standardized tests are useless in determining the students’ knowledge and ability. They only determine who is able to solve problems in a stressful condition. Does this have anything to do with studying well in college?

So Ladies and Gentlemen, I sincerely hope that I changed some of your opinions about the standardized tests. Yes, they are meant to measure and compare the students so that the college administration officials can decide who will attend their school. However, the standardized tests are not the best ways to evaluate students. Placing too much emphasis on them would be wrong. There are better ways to evaluate a student's ability other than standardized tests, such as teacher recommendations. The standardized tests do not measure anything useful in determining whether a student will do well in college or not. Therefore, I believe the standardized tests should be eliminated from the college applications. Thank you for listening.

Quotes from: [] and []

 = Rough Draft = = =
 * English Persuasive Essay**

Ladies and Gentlemen, are you concerned about your future? Do you think about what you will grow up to be and how your life will be after high school? Congratulations. You are a typical high school student. Doesn’t everyone worry about what colleges they will get into right now? The problem is how to get accepted to good universities and colleges. When we apply to colleges, there are some crucial things that college administration officials look at. I am sure everyone in this classroom knows what those are: your GPA, extracurricular activities, and standardized tests. I believe determining how the person is like by his GPA is reasonable, because it reflects how diligently a student studied in school. Also, a student’s extracurricular activities show how active he was. However… What about standardized tests? Can you honestly tell me that those tests are fair to everyone? Are they really objective and bias-free? Why are we putting ourselves into so much pain for unnecessary things? Even though standardized tests are meant to be a tool to compare the test takers in an objective manner, they have been criticized based on numerous factors, such as its objectivity, financial issues, and accuracy. I strongly believe the standardized tests should be abolished because they do not truly measure a person’s ability to do well in college.

The standardized tests are often criticized because of its subjectivity. These tests are products of a company named “College Board.” What is the goal of the most firms and companies? Yes, making the greatest profit possible. College Board has a monopoly in the market because in order to apply to decent colleges, students must take SAT exams and AP exams. In 2006, this so-called “non-profit” organization College Board had 582.9 million dollars of revenue. College Board is definitely violating its non-profit status. All sellers want their customers to buy more of their products. To get revenue as high as that of year 2006, would not any test maker make the test so that the students have to take it more than once? The standardized tests are simply a device of College Board to earn money. Even though many claim that these tests determine how smart a student is, they cannot escape the accusation of being biased and subjective. Of course, the problems on these tests are checked and administrated by professionals. The test makers also correct big or obvious biases. However, they are humans and it is a known fact that being one hundred percent objective for a human is almost impossible. The only objective part of the standardized tests is the grading part, which is done by machines. Bill Ayers, an American elementary education theorist claimed that the “Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and function, content knowledge, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning.” These skills listed by Ayer, which are not measured in standardized tests, are few of the most important factors that make a person who he or she is. If the standardized tests were not able to tell who the student is, why would we need them when applying to colleges?

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, have you ever seen a student with a test-prep book and loads of tutor schedules for SAT exams? I am sure you are one of those students. Many teenagers claim that the test prep books and getting tutors for the standardized exams help them a lot. What about the student who cannot get those kinds of luxuries? How come the tests that are meant to compare students from any type of background only advantageous to those who can afford test prep courses? Is the standardized tests’ function to differentiate between those who are wealthy enough to get high scores and those who are not? Preparing for these standardized exams require a lot of materials such as practice tests, programs, books, private tutoring sessions, and online sources. None of them are free and they are quite expensive, as well. How does the College Board expect the students from low social class to afford the materials to score well? I do not believe the welfare of a student’s family should determine what college one enters. How can the matter of being rich or poor possibly determine a person’s ability to perform well in college?

Has anyone in this classroom never been nervous before the SAT exam or AP exam? It is a psychological fact that many tend to be nervous before big tests, such as standardized tests. This definitely gives the students who are better at taking tests more advantage. Why does test taking skills crucial for college? Does it even say anything about what kind of person the student is? There is a possibility that the smartest and the most diligent student fail the exam due to pressure and stress. Do the low scores of this student tell the college administration officials that he is a bad student, who does not study hard enough as others? How can standardized tests tell the ability of the students to work hard in colleges when other factors get in the way? It is very likely that the student may be anxious or fail to manage testing time wisely on the day of the exam. These clearly show that the standardized tests are useless in determining the students’ knowledge. They only determine who is able to solve problems in a stressful condition. Does this have anything to do with studying well in college?