It is seen in the copious amounts of readily available IQ, achievement, ability, and aptitude tests that we humans are very curious about our “number.”
The number pertains to our IQ, how smart we are and how fast we would be able to solve problems. The number also pertains to how much we know and how much we can do. But probably the most significant interpretation of this number is how our number fares when compared to others.
In fact, do we really care about the score as much as we do the rank? Most of these standardized tests give the number as a score, but what it really measures is a percentile rank based on a norming sample. Because of that, its interpretation is easily manipulated. You could be the top 1 of a group of unsuccessful people and yet still be considered unsuccessful despite the status of earning top place. But you could also be at the bottom rank of a successful pile of people and yet be considered so-so because despite being successful, you’re not nearly successful enough.
This obsession of assessing one’s capabilities and current capacities are not only reflected in these tests. It is reflected on how school puts value on us; it is reflected on how our families pressure us to “do well;” and it is reflected in social acceptance as well.
A person has a past, present and a future. Connecting all of these presents a colorful narrative that contains their story.
In school, what matters is the past and the present. The past signifies what you have done, and therefore expected to accomplish, and the present measures you whether you are able to live up to that expectation. What you are able to do with the present will affect your future, but there isn’t any real way that the school measures your “future worth,” instead, your next school will measure that based on your past and present accomplishments.
What am I talking about? Let’s make an example using a boy named Harry. Harry goes to school used to get merit cards in elementary. He enters high school, gets a little distracted and garners only average grades. His “worth” decreases as he is a let-down, and his next school, a college of his choice, will judge him for it. It doesn’t matter that Harry possess the potential to be great, the measurement at present is the determining factor.
At home, the past, present and future worth are all greatly combined to form a reflection of who you are to them. Your “future worth” greatly influences on how harshly or leniently they measure your present capabilities. Your past need not matter as much as they have already judged it at its present.
Let’s use Sally for this example. Sally is the eldest of the three siblings, and she is expected to be a good role model for her brother and sister. She will be the breadwinner as soon as she graduates, so anything below a medal is a disappointment. Her neighbor George is the only son of a wealthy businessman. His grades does not matter as much because he is set to take over the family business as soon as he graduates, he just needs to pass. Sally is pressured and George is bored. Their worth is determined by their parents’ plans and expectations of them, not who they really are.
Why did I need to bring these up?
As educators, we bear the brunt of the responsibility to shape human beings and reach their potential. However, this is ironically not the place of importance when we run our schools or we raise our children. Students only know two environments: the school and the home. And when our school focuses on present achievement as their only sense of worth, and the home focuses on the same thing because they worry of their future expectations, it leaves little space for the human being to develop and discover on their own. It leaves little room for potential to grow and multiply.
We box the children in these quantifiable measures that only seeks to compare them with others. And even when it measures a true score, this is only one facet of the child. There are many other facets that we become blind to because of this fixation.
This is discussed in detail in the video below:
Student-centered learning helps us in promoting individualized learning and their potentials. It removes the obsession from quantifying our students and reducing them to a number, and finally seeing them for who they really are.
Our assessments and lessons are reflections of what we believe is important. As teachers, we must strive to create assessments that show our students what they are presently able to do but what they can do more than what they can now.
Our lessons must inspire, not trap. We must facilitate an environment for growth, for triumphs and failures, for discovery and practice.
Our students must be greater than a number. We assess them not just for the grades, but we assess their whole being.
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