POSITION PAPER 4

NAME: NUR ATIFAH BT AWANG
MATRIC NO: 0813250

POSITION PAPER 4
“Since the Most of the Assessment Instruments in the Market were Made Based on American Culture. Muslim Counselor should not Use Standardized Assessment Instruments at all”. Discuss.

Assessment is an opinion or a judgment about somebody or something that has been thought about very carefully and known as evaluation as well. It also means as the act of judging or forming an opinion about particular thing. The increasing diversity in our society offers a special challenge to the assessment community, striving always to assure fair and equitable treatment of individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, language, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion or physical ability. Some people claim since the most of the assessment instruments in the market were made based on American culture, Muslim counselor should not use standardized assessment instruments at all.
In my humble opinion, it is firmly disagreeing that Muslim counselors should not use the standardized assessment instruments at all just because of they were made based on American culture. For me, there is nothing wrong if Muslim counselors want to use the American culture standardized assessment instruments as long as they are cautious when selecting tests for culturally diverse Muslim populations to avoid inappropriateness of assessing that may be outside of socialized behavioral or cognitive patterns. To illustrate, perhaps they may select or choose an appropriate assessment instrument which not against Islamic values or teaching as well as it can be fit to Muslim cultures.
Besides that, Muslim culture competence counselors may find other new alternatives if they are decide not to use the assessment instruments in the market which were made based on American culture. For instance, they can try to make research and introduce new standardized assessment instruments based on Islamic values. However, the assessment instruments are valuable and acceptable as well as suitable for all multicultural populations. The purpose of this element is to promote the fair and responsible use of standardized assessment by Muslim counseling communities.
In addition, Muslim counselors also can make evaluation or analysis about the specific assessment instruments in the market that were made based on American culture before using them. It does not mean that Muslim counselors cannot use American culture standardized assessment instruments at all. But then, they can make any discussion and refer to the Muslim scholars about the assessment instruments by which can be suited with Islamic values. Because, Islam is a comprehensive religion as such it encompasses every aspects of human life including on multicultural aspects.
In the nutshell, I disagreed that Muslim counselors should not use the standardized assessment instruments at all just because of they were made based on American culture. Hence, Muslim culture competence counselors may select an appropriate assessment instrument which not against Islamic values, find new alternatives by introducing new assessment instruments based on Islamic values, make analysis on American culture standardized assessment instruments, refer to the Muslim scholars about the suitable assessment instruments and so on. So, there is nothing could go wrong even if Muslim counselors use counseling assessment instruments which were made in according with American culture as long as those assessments not against Islamic values and counselors can be aware about acceptable assessment instruments based on multicultural populations.