system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I think resistance to standardized tests in the US is pointless, as no one has really presented a better way of being able to show the academic growth of students. CMV

OK. I'm a senior in an American high school. I don't really have any more standardized tests to deal with (except maybe SAT IIs), but I have taken them all of my life. While I agree that they may not be the ABSOLUTE best way to see if a kid knows what he/she has been taught, I honestly see no other option to make it fair to everyone. Whenever I go on the internet, and the topic of American education comes up, all i ever hear is "I HATE STANDARDIZED TESTS" and then they go on to rant about how it makes kids into statistics and how the teacher has to stick to a rubric and can't "REALLY teach" the kids. Usually the rant ends with the person saying that they should abolish the standardized tests and "let the teacher teach" so the kids "don't have to learn straight from the test". It apparently takes all of the "life" out of education.

My problem with this is, what exactly does "let the teacher teach" mean? In order to see that the teacher is doing his or her job, you have to make sure that the students are learning the material. That is the point of school, no? How else can you tell for sure that the kids learned something without administering a test, which out of fairness, needs to be the same for everyone? And I also don't understand the whole thing about standardized tests "sucking life out of education". Again, what does that even mean? What determines that one classroom is "alive" while the other one isn't? Is it the level of attention that the teacher has commanded from the students? I think that has more to do with the teacher's skill and the subject matter itself and how interested the students are in it.

So basically, I don't understand the hate for standardized tests. Yes, they are boring, long, and arduous, but what other option do we really have to prove that the students are actually learning? While they aren't perfect, to me the tests seem like the only real option, and are doing the best that they can. The hate for them just seems hollow to me, lacking of a better option. Sorry if this makes no sense.
gpt
The problem with "if you can't think of something better, you shouldn't complain" is that if you don't complain, no one will know to think of something better.

:p

Seems pretty obvious after the fact, huh?

The nintendo WiiU is having a problem of this sorts right now; Nobody is buying the WiiU because there are no good games for it, and nobody is making good games for it because nobody is buying it.  

How do we fix this?  Well... 

1. Our government, in particular the body of government responsible for teaching and public schooling, can think of a better solution.  They have not yet (I have bigger complaints on them than this, but you know.  What are you gonna do?).

2. We can bitch about it, and make it an issue, until something is done about it.  This will, in theory, prompt our government (that part that is supposed to be for helping our children) to find a better way to measure how our schools prepare our children for successful lives.  

I doubt any of us are government officials with the kind of authority needed to create a new testing standard.  

>Yes, they are boring, long, and arduous, but what other option do we really have to prove that the students are actually learning? 

Once you are out of high school, you will see that what was once criticized for being 'boring, long, and arduous' quickly becomes 'a waste of time, doesn't prepare students for real life, and doesn't adequately measure how prepared our children are for entering the workforce'

And you'll see it soon enough.  Remember, this world is not run by children - it is run by adults (of which you are mostly an adult, but not quite there(but almost!)).  The realistic criticism will almost always come from the perspective responsible for actually doing the work and needing the thing that is being criticized.