Which statement in the excerpt supports the idea that the author is building a slippery slope argument?
adapted from Away with Standardized Testing!
Standardized testing is a billion dollar industry. The companies that create these tests charge school districts and institutions millions of dollars to create and administer them. Let us not even forget the millions of dollars they make selling study guide materials for college entrance exams. Some school districts provide waivers so that students do not have to pay to take these exams. However, some students do not have that luxury and must pay for every attempt at the test until they get a desirable score. Districts are refunded when errors on these tests are discovered or when systems crash. Each year, school district funds are being reduced by states. Surely money poured into testing can be used to support other needs, such as higher teacher salaries, better school lunches, more classroom libraries, and infrastructure repairs.
Sure, supporters of this dream-killing, money-sucking machine believe that standardized tests push educators to cover more content and skills and that stricter, more-aligned standardized tests ensure that students are college ready. But do these supporters stop to think about the emotional impact of standardized testing on student engagement and motivation? When students perform poorly test after test after test, not being able to gain acceptance into a college of their dreams or graduate from high school or rank highly, they are more inclined to consider dropping out of school and not pursuing college, and are more likely to tragically suffer from low self-esteem.
