Yesterday was a bit frustrating for our oldest. He had a couple of quizzes, and one of them was the sort that required psychic ability in order to answer some the questions. The interpretation of truth was a bit subjective, and if answers were not given according to the thinking of the assessment writer, well, they were wrong. It reminded me of this humorous portion of an “I Love Lucy” episode:
- Mr. Mooney: I’ve been trying to find Mr. Burns’ file. It is not under the B’s.
- Lucy: Oh, I must have put it under the X’s.
- Mr. Mooney: Why would you put the B file under the X’s?
- Lucy: That poor little file never has anything in it!
- Mr. Mooney: Well, where is it??
- Lucy: Well, wait a minute. Oh, I bet I know what I did…you see, Mr. Burns, I always have trouble remembering names, so I took a course in word association. Now, “burns” reminds me of fire.
- Mr. Mooney: So you filed it under the F’s?
- Lucy: No. “Fire” reminds me of “stove”.
- George Burns: So you put my file under the S’s?
- Lucy: No…”stove” reminds me of pot roast.
- Burns (to Mr. Mooney): It’s your turn.
- Mr. Mooney: You filed it under the P’s?
- Lucy: No, pot roast reminds me of noodles.
- Mr. Mooney: Mrs. Carmichael…you’re making me angry…
- Burns: She’s making me hungry!
- Lucy: And noodles reminds me of my mother!
- Mr. Mooney (to Burns): Your turn.
- Burns: “Noodles” reminds you of your mother?
- Lucy: Yeah, she made the best noodles! And I’ll be that’s where I put your file.
- Burns: Under “noodles”.
- Lucy: No, under “gravy”.
This is one of the reasons I love having a front row seat for educating our kids. I was able to come in the back door on that quiz, see the way some the questions were phrased rather ambiguously, and make a judgement call.
Yes, I have eliminated quiz questions. Sometimes I’ve tossed out entire assessments because there was a better way to see if my child had assimilated knowledge. I don’t think questions which ask for ridiculously detailed information are necessarily profitable. What was the name of a certain prominent person’s second cousin’s husband’s pet? Nope.
I also know our kids, and I have watched them shaping into who God intends for them to be. Because of that, I can decide if certain questions, projects, even subjects should carry more weight with regard to time and focus. Yes, we fulfill what the state requirements mandate; but we do it our own way, and reasonably. 😉
Some material is simply twaddle. I really dislike busy work immensely. Things which occupy time, but don’t serve to build or teach much of anything (except perhaps patience) are subject to educational extinction in our house.
Today, I punted a quiz. I saw my child struggling to decipher it, and making several attempts to answer the way the program wanted him to answer. He kept his cool. He did not get angry and storm off. He did not declare he hated the subject, hated the program, or hated school. He handled the whole thing maturely. So we went question by question verbally, and I tweaked the phrasing so he could comprehend more fully what he was being asked. His understanding was more complete after that than it would have been if he had guessed his way through, absently clicking buttons. He passed just fine, mom style. I commended him for his attitude and perseverance. I told him that was of more value than A’s to me.
Give yourself the freedom to do this.
For the love of learning,
Diane 🙂
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