Do tests really tell who a person is? In my opinion no. Sure tests can gage where you are at in certain subjects and where you might need room for improvement.But without knowing the person or have met them , how accurate can some one be judged. I am here to say parents if you 're sitting in room with say five people and they are milling through tests results of your kids and half the room have never met them, there are definitely certain aspects of the tests that will not be judged fairly. Don't get me wrong we do need tests to gage and proceed with help, especially in the medical fields. But would you go out and buy a car (excuse the comparison) without looking at it and making a judgement by reading just the car fax on it. If you do, good luck with that. You might get lucky without actually seeing it but if you don't, the roads ahead could be rocky.
In testing the whole package deal should be acknowledged. First we need to factor in the left-brain and right-brain approach. Which one are you? and which one might be your child's? Myself I tend to be more on the artistic side and very visual , (i know I'm a male, that statement doesn't fly anymore) so basically I suck at test taking. Although Geometry I could do; circles, squares, rectangles, hymn go figure. Now you have the people that are great at tests (I hate you) they walk in ,sit down , whistling and they are the first ones done. Slam their pencils down , walk out of the room and there's still two hrs of time left to do the test. I tip my sweaty hat to you. Mean while the rests of us are a nervous wreck, biting all are finger nails off, sweating profusely, hoping we used deodorant that morning, wishing for a power failure, you get the idea. Now take a child with Asperger's or Autism, watch them take a test. Hopefully the subject that they are only interested in is on the test, but I doubt it. Some of the feelings just mentioned will be magnified tenfold for these kids. How do we expect them to do well? If there are people who are reviewing your child's testing and have never met them, I don't believe they can fairly make a judgement call on their future. Now let our kids show the test reviewers their awesome drawing, sculpture, let them play that instrument for them to the pefect key, or act out Hamlet for them, then they might see who really that child is. Remember, it just takes one straw to break the camels back, then the camel can't walk forward.
I would like to share a true story that happened in my high school years. It is hard to go back there because it was a sad time for so many. My class went into school, I think on a rainy Saturday morning to take our S.A.T.S. You know the one colleges wanted you to do well on . Before the test we all got sad and tragic news. There was a serious car accident the night before and we loss a tremendously loved classmate and a few others were hurt badly, I could not concentrate. I'm not a good test taker and then that happens, needless to say I did lousy on the S.A.T.S.. To this day I don't know why they didn't reschedule those tests for everyone.
So you see there are so many factors when you have to take a test. From a small event to an unfortunate tragic one, just a little tweak can mess with your score. We can not judge whom a person is by tests alone. You know who you are and who your children are. Life is a test within its self. Pass it, by letting people know who they are by what they are. Meet them, greet them , admire them. Know them, not by paper, phone ,texting or computers. Like our past and present loved ones, put an apple pie on your window sill , invite people in for a piece, our grandmothers would.
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