This Is A Test

The most recent lapse in updates, you may have gathered, was due to the fact that I was preparing for the GRE.  The Graduate Record Examination (I didn't know what it actually stood for either, until recently) is one of those standardized tests that supposedly measures your ability to perform well in a graduate school setting, but--like other standardized tests--has more to do with your ability to take multiple choice tests and write concise, formulaic and logical argumentative essays under strict time constraints. (Hopefully there is more to graduate school than that!).

Ordinarily, this is something I am quite capable of, and would not have worried about. The extreme state of mental vegetation that set in around the time of graduation and a two year absence of math in my life suggested that this time, I should probably worry.  So I set up a schedule (which I followed for about 2 days before scrapping) and started studying.  There were practice tests, online quizzes, vocab lists, sample essay questions, more practice tests and vocab games.  In short, a lot of practicing to take a test. 

What did I gain?  A renewed appreciation for triangles, a couple new words in my vocabulary, and a good enough score to get into a graduate school of my choice (I hope!).

But what did the test measure?  The ability to perform a few select tasks that are only distantly related to my field of study. 

It does not measure how I handle a stressful day, what I learned from living in another country for 4 months, or how I treat children, bugs, pets, other people, and myself.  It does not decipher whether or not I will comfort someone who is hurting, work hard to accomplish something worthwhile, weed the garden, drive responsibly, send birthday cards, let my neighbor borrow a cup of sugar, or think about the consequences of my actions.  It does not have anything to do with how much I know about the history of our country or our country's history of meddling in foreign affairs.  And it most definitely does not measure my ability to learn new things and use what I have learned to come to thoughtful conclusions that might alter the way I live my life. 

In short, it does not say anything about who I am as a person or how intelligent I am (intelligence is more than a good vocabulary and an understanding of statistics) or whether or not I am a decent human being who is kind to others and to the planet. 

Kind of a relief, eh?

Yet this is the test that is used to determine who is allowed to continue their education, and therefore who will be most likely to educate the next generation, run the country, and make decisions that affect the future of the world.

An interesting thought.



*Yes, I do know that there is more to getting a job or finding oneself in a position of political power than taking a standardized test.  I also realize that standardized testing does a fairly decent job at measuring basic intellect.  However, I am also of the opinion that as an assessment of ability, a standardized test will never tell the whole story of what a person is capable of.