Everyone that I have talked to at AHS who has had the privilege of experiencing the lovely PARCC tests would have little explanation as to why we take them. To fill this knowledge gap, I did research to find the official purpose. I found the mission statement for PARCC, which says: “The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”

All explanations I found emphasized that the PARCC assessment strives to prepare the younger generations for success later on in life. Because PARCC only tests students on three subjects-math, science and English-and the Common Core curriculum is purportedly the Holy Grail of success, the test makers are ultimately broadcasting the perception that accomplishment can only be achieved through these subjects. This is implying that success is carefully defined and closed to interpretation.

Ironically, I once had an English teacher who devoted a good amount of class one day to explain that there isn’t one way to distinguish success. This teacher had one sister who owned a shoe company and another who lived on the beach in Mexico practicing an exotic form of massage, yet they both perceived themselves as successful.

If success cannot be so clearly outlined, then there is no evident purpose of the Common Core curriculum, though the standards may wreak havoc by preventing variations of education among students.

It is possible that in the future, to “ensure success” colleges will be required to have some sort of common core curriculum among different majors. This takes all freedom from educators to teach by their own terms. Ultimately, this would make it so that they are merely regurgitating information that was deemed important or trivial by a select few individuals who create the common core curriculum. If students all know identical information by the time they are in the work force, room to move forward with things such as inventions, cures and technology is scarce.

There is an old myth that explains this best. Six men are blindfolded and touch a different part of an elephant. The man holding a leg says the elephant is a tree, it goes on like this so that everyone says the elephant is a different object. Together they piece the different objects they believe they’re touching and conclude that it is in fact an elephant. If everyone in a certain career field had an equivalent education, everyone would be holding a leg, and they would without a doubt believe that they were touching a tree because no one questions something everyone can agree with.

Contrary to what the PARCC assessment wants students to believe, it is impossible that educationally, one size fits all or that a Common Core curriculum has the ability to prepare students for a “successful” life. Although I still follow the Common Core curriculum in classes everyday, my parents can exempt me from the PARCC assessment the next time I have to take it, and there is little chance I will consent to taking an exam that attempts to measure my probability of success.