Blog for 3/1 "How the Test Was Won"

Bart is informed that he has received perfect scores on a practice test for the upcoming Vice President’s Assessment Test. As a result, he will be exempt from taking the real exam and will be transported by helicopter to a pizza party. However, Bart soon realizes the trip is not what it seems. Meanwhile, Homer must avoid injuring himself for an entire afternoon after failing to pay his insurance.
I have never watched The Simpsons before stepping foot into this class. I have only seen the few episodes that were shown in class, as well as the past Sunday episode. I think it’s an interesting show. It’s humorous with entertaining characters who can appeal to all ages and groups of people. I also like that they make references to things like politics and pop culture. For example, when Homer finds out he is uninsured, he says, “Like a bad neighbor, no one is there!” which is a play on the slogan for State Farm Insurance Company. Also, the main idea of this particular episode was about the standardized testing which has to do with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. This is a law that is aimed at improving U.S. education and greater educational achievement for most students. However in this episode the principal groups tricks Bart and a couple of other kids into thinking they scored perfectly, when really he is just trying to get rid of them so they do not drag down the entire schools scores as a whole. This makes Lisa crazy and it shows her insane amount of stress caused by these ridiculous standardized tests. I personally hate standardized tests. No one has the patience to sit in a hot, crowded room for close to five hours straight and take, what I thought, was a really difficult test. This cannot be what determines your intelligence level at that point in time. Most kids close to half way in just fill random bubbles in because they have no clue and just want to get the things over with.