Uhh... when's the reassesment on this?

In my opinion, the philosophy behind standards based education is an issue that has an effect not only on our generation, but our entire society.  I think that theoretically it is a valid plan; we should be assessed on intellectual ability rather than homework and handwriting, right? Teachers should not revere the girl with perfect penmanship for mediocre work, while disregarding the brilliant boy who scribbles his thoughts down as hieroglyphics on scratch paper.

But standards based education is having negative effects on some students. Presentation DOES matter in the real world!  Your boss/client/whatever is not going to be happy with your amazing ideas if they are thrown together in a half assed way.  

In our educational system, doing it right the first time is way undervalued.  Why should we stay up all night studying for a test or writing a paper when we know that if we mess up the first time, we have another chance, and then another to get it right? For example, I’m having a hard time coming up with an ending to this blog, but that’s okay ‘cause I’ll do better on the next one.