Is It Right to Determine a Student's Future Based on Standardized Test Performance?

"If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn't be here. I guarantee you that," Michelle Obama said. Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including logic, abstract thought, understanding, planning, and problem solving. Earlier it was believed that there was one underlying general factor at the intelligence base, but later psychologists maintained that it is more complicated and could not be determined by such a simplistic method. If psychologists have proven that your knowledge cannot be based on one factor, then why do schools still use that method to classify a student’s intelligence level? One could argue that IQ tests deprive students of not reaching their full potential in classes, but one could also argue that it seems to be one of the only ways to categorize students into classes. The situation is quite similar to Machiavelli's explanation, in The Prince, of the end justifying the means. He describes that anything, even something unfair or malevolent actions, are acceptable as long as it leads to a successful result. In this case the means doesn’t necessarily have to result to inequity, if schools start realizing a single test doesn’t prove your intellect. IQ tests should not be the main source for schools to categorize students because it doesn't fully prove the intelligence of a certain person, lowers your chances of getting into college, and has advantages towards one racial group over another.
In class, teachers aren’t curious if you got the right answer, but rather if you got to your final answer properly. IQ tests are not concentrated with the process of getting answers, but rather with the final product. A recent study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, suggests that you can be insanely intelligent, and still fall foul when it comes to simple problems because of deviations in judgment. This is known as "cognitive bias” (Clondliffe, 2013). This cognitive bias was