Optional Rejection

This digital art piece, titled “Optional Rejection,” represents the narrative of many current high school students. For the past few years, standardized testing has become “optional” throughout many of the colleges as a result of COVID. However, whether they have a choice to submit, the fact stands that those who turn in a good standardized testing score are more likely to get in. 

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The test itself has embodied ignorance and monetary value above the actual assessment of students and their achievements. By reinforcing the idea that a higher score leads to better schools, students spend more money, and those who are underfunded have a  disadvantage to achieve the same level of academic success. This monetary gap that occurs has become a never-ending cycle throughout the years, especially during COVID. The idea that the test is optional only widens the gap between those at an advantage versus those at a disadvantage who are mainly minorities and underprivileged. 

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In this way, the digital piece utilizes the pencil markings on the test as a symbol of those frustrated with the structured view on their value as potential students. The incorporation of the scratches as it slowly becomes more chaotic as it reaches further down the test, emphasizes a sense of urgency and anger towards having to fit in the mold in order to succeed. The black and white person is a representation of how immersed students become in order to achieve this “perfect” score, but also how tiring it can be to try to keep up with others. 

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Unknowing how long colleges will stay test-optional, this piece is meant to highlight the value of college readiness exams and their false representation of students in the long run. 
 

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