“What’s your ACT score?”

That is the question so many high school students around the country will ask their peers in a bid to gauge their competition. This one little number can make us, break us, give us all the money we need for school or none at all; the real question is, does the American education system make it define us?

The ACT is a college admission test. Graded on a scale of one to thirty-six, it tests high schooler’s knowledge in English, mathematics, reading, and science. Our futures depend on this number. It determines what schools we can attend and how much money we’ll be awarded for scholarships. Schools have set pre-requisites for the scores they will accept, and the scores are so varied that a 34 may get you a full ride scholarship to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; at the same time, it may put you in the average pile at Harvard. This shows that everything is relative from school to school; however, it also makes this number define us and determines whether or not our dreams come true. High school students around the country should be taught that we are not just a number. We are more. We are athletes, musicians, volunteers, scholars; this number is not so all-encompassing that it replaces our personalities, our character.

Before, students in Nebraska were required to take standardized tests in the spring to measure their academic progress. Last year, the Nebraska state legislature passed a law changing the junior state test from the Nebraska State Accountability test to a college admission test. The state put out a proposal for test companies to bid; ACT, SAT, and another small test company made up the bidders. Ultimately, Nebraska chose the ACT with writing for the new spring test. When prompted on the topic, AHS principal George Clear said, “In the past, it was used as a college entrance exam only. We want to make sure that they (students) know how to take the ACT test. The key for us as a high school is to understand the questions that ACT will be asking and making sure that we are preparing the students well so that the test can tell us what students know.”