Tinkering With Brilliance

Justin Chapman’s test performance substantiated his brilliance. With an unprecedented IQ exceeding 298, a perfect 800 SAT Math score, the little eight-year-old boy was an up-and-coming genius.

Or so the world thought. Recent New York Times reports have revealed that his mother, Elizabeth Chapman, falsified Justin’s tests. Among other misdeeds, she scanned Justin’s name into another student’s SAT score results and allowed him to memorize answers to an IQ test. Ms. Chapman’s deceptive actions are clearly worthy of scorn. But our current education system, which bred Ms. Chapman’s behavior, is just as worthy of criticism.

Although few parents who want to guarantee their children the best opportunities sink to Ms. Chapman’s level, many do spend significant time and money to improve their children’s standardized test scores. Their reasoning is perfectly understandable. Parents want to provide the best for their children—and children who excel in standardized tests often receive a stamp of academic excellence leading to the finest opportunities.

Yet Justin Chapman’s case revealed the unfortunate problem with these tests—they are increasingly becoming the sole indicator of intellect. This inflated status, coupled with the numerous problems of standardized testing, is increasingly and detrimentally leaving behind students who do not master tests.

Standardized tests, for all their benefits, rarely indicate potential. Young children’s capacity for excellence is often tantamount to learned knowledge. Yet, external conditions may drastically affect a child’s performance and a student with ability for brilliance who receives a low mark may be denied appropriate academic opportunity.

Additionally, tests rarely capture passion, drive, amiability and fundamental decency—all priceless character traits. If they did, Harvard would admit students based solely on test performance. In fact, one could argue that emotional stability is more important than pure intelligence for most forms of success. Perhaps Justin Chapman’s example is most telling. Though his intelligence is now in question, his emotional insecurity is not. During a recent examination, Justin threw stuffed animals and hid under a table. And psychologists suggest that Justin may suffer from never being able to live up to his falsified scores and his impressive academic work. Sadly, his low emotional level may decay any intellectual progress he made in his early life.

So what should schools do when eliminating standardized tests, one clear measure of skill assessment, seems also to destroy accountability? In the decentralized American education system, the large amounts of public money spent on tests should instead be used in individual schools to improve teaching and ensure that both student skill and character are powerfully cultivated. In my middle school, for example, students who excelled in math were bused to the nearby high school to take more advanced classes. At the same time, classes at the middle school itself accommodated the skills of all other students. This emphasis on actually learning material should be at the heart of a good education. Yet the preeminence of tests today takes away from the actual importance of intellectual discovery. And, moreover, this focus on testing ultimately leads to extreme behavior such as Ms. Chapman’s.

Meanwhile, even if our education system does not change, parents must adjust their attitudes towards standardized tests. The money and time they spend on test preparations could more effectively be used in providing children with valuable experiences and priceless parental interaction. It’s deplorable if the children of the future only excel in penciling in bubble sheets.