The grade

Today I administered a standardized test to high school students to ascertain if they will qualify to earn college credit on various courses offered in their high school during their junior and senior year. It is basically a performance test. A test of their current knowledge of the subject matter. Will they ace it with flying colors, will they score in the average range and be close enough for the cut offs for the class or will they fail miserably? Regardless of the score, there is stress at all levels. They have their own individual expectation of themselves, the expectation of their peers, teachers and family. It's all about the test and demonstrating a passing performance.

Tests, tests, and more tests!!! I hated tests when I was younger and the feeling has yet to be resolved because just the thought of taking a test brings on an unimaginable amount of undo stress. Testing for me results in anxiety, apprehension, nervous tension, worry and alarm, which I believe all of these words conjure up the same feeling. I think I question my ability to have enough information to pass (that may have to do with self esteem) or I just hate being put under the microscope. I feel as if my whole person is in question during an examination, not just the subject matter.

We rely on tests for everything. We begin when a women is pregnant by measuring her abdomen to establishing appropriate weight gain and measuring the distribution of weight in determining the size of the baby. The woman is constantly tested bi-weekly for such measurements and depending upon how many weeks she is pregnant she maybe tested with blood samples and the like and upon the delivery of the child, it too under goes numerous tests to make sure it meets the standard protocol of development. As the child grows and develops they are tested in school academically, socially and physically and thereby also meeting medical standards, as well. Once we become young adults we take a series of tests which include; drivers tests, personality tests, aptitude tests, career tests and the list goes on. As we merge into adulthood we are tested at jobs and as caretakers. We must demonstrate under such scrutiny in each area of our lives the ability to perform at a certain level deemed necessary to be "normal" or successful.

We have graduations, receptions, ceremonials, formal dinners and the like for meeting such standards once we've passed.

I wouldn't want to be in high school right now. It seems that they have many more tests now than in my day. Kids today are a new generation and as a result they have more to learn. There is more information. As I was walking by a student taking the test I noticed his computer said math portion. When did the alphabet become part of math? Hummmm. Just maybe I might pass math.

So, what are the reasons behind the test and why are there so many? I think the very first test in time was the test given to Adam and Eve and the testing thing just went down hill from there. We had to try to keep testing each other so that we could try to get it right. We'll never get it right. The apple has a big bite in it and the bite has been swallowed.

God has been testing us for a long while. His testing didn't end with Adam and Eve. There are many stories in the Bible about tests. There was one big test at the very beginning of the Bible when God commands Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Can one really begin to know what God was asking of Abraham? The love between God and Abraham was so intense! Genesis 22: 1-15

Then are passages about those passing the tests of trials in James 1:12. "Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him." My favorite passage, James 1:2-8 "My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind."

Testing: a means of trial.

Life: A big test of time.

All this testing, tests my patience!