A topic that has been grabbing my attention for some time now is the issue of defining academic success. In America ones level of intelligence is characterized by test scores. Often bright students get overlooked because their test scores do not show that they are "smart" enough.

I believe that tests are a way to generalize students and not focus in the different techniques and learning styles that each student may have. A student who scores a 1600 on the SAT may bee seen as smarter or more intelligent than the one who scores a 1200. What happened to recognizing individual learning styles? It seems that American education wants to generalize everyone so that every ones learning style is the same.

Is it fair to say that someone who has more math and science skills is smarter than one who has more creative skills? Is is fair to say that a student who takes AP classes and scores high on the test is smarter than the student in the "regular" class?

I believe that America is so caught up in the image of being smart and trying to show academic superiority that they forget what's most important. Everyone has different learning styles and to say that one student is better than the other because they test well or learn differently to me, is bogus. 

what do you think?