When entering high school, students should be aware that school is no longer the place to fool around. High school should be taken much more seriously. Students should have long been prepared for high school through their journey beginning in elementary school, then continuing on to middle school. If the county is to require the students to pass a standardized test, then the students should have already been well prepared by their previous teachers and ready to take the test. However, according to the article "Back to School Testing" of the September 2, 2003 edition of The Washington Post, students should not be forced to take tests if they have not been asked before to take a test at such a level.

Initially, the Maryland school district's graduating class of 2007, were required to pass the algebra, government, English, and biology exams in order to receive their diplomas. These tests were...