Mistaking test scores for getting educated
You can’t blame students if all they want from college are good grades with as little work as possible, time to hang out with their friends and finally be granted their diplomas.
If they have the good fortune to matriculate to a big name college or university, that’s fine too.?
To study, though — to spend most of their college years immersed in the solitary pursuit of books and math problems — is not why most students want to attend college.
Of course, students must learn a few things, if just enough to make decent grades so they can get the degrees their mothers and fathers pay dearly for.
They aren’t lazy, for they are relentless at chasing after high test scores which their parents, the universities and society demand of them.
Should they wish to seek knowledge and add to their worth, then maybe the university is for them.
Four expensive years of college will get a student a diploma which can be their ticket to a job with good pay but there’s no promise of that.
If they should prepare themselves to cope with and even prevail over the unpredictable diffi- culties life will surely fling at them — abilities of real value — that’s up to them.
Students who truly want to educate themselves can do so without going to college or even getting a degree.
The reason they should attend college is to take classes taught by learned scholars eager to discuss books and ideas with them and who will inspire them to continue their studies.
At its best, college offers students opportunities to become soundly educated.
Colleges and universities should inspire their students to stoke their curiosity so it will only grow bigger and burn forever, which is a significant benefit colleges bestow upon students and society.
Professors should inspire their students to read, study and learn on their own.
Serious students organize their lives so they will never stop studying, for they know that what they have already learned is only the beginning.
The best students rarely think about getting a degree, for graduation is not their goal, understanding and mastery is.
So it seems, society is obsessed with test scores, which is absurd if you think about it, for the world is in need of daring, imagination and ability more than it needs high test scores.
Still many parents force their young children into the lockstep grind of cramming to become outstanding test-takers, but little else.
Parents pay a lot of money so their children can score high on entrance exams and have a chance to gain acceptance to big name colleges and universities.
That a college or university would judge their applicants by test scores, almost to the exclusion of everything else, is deplorable.
No sensible person would take seriously a college that places anything more than trifling consideration on test scores.
Regardless of having a fine reputation, a university that puts a premium on a student’s test-taking ability is little more than a diploma mill and can’t be counted on to help students develop their interests or hone their talents.?
There are parents who don’t care if their children become good test-takers or even if they get into big name colleges.
They do care that their children work toward worthy aspirations and live honorable lives, whether they attend college or not.
They care that their children develop as much of their potential as they can.
Parents such as these cultivate in their children habits of reading, of becoming fluent in foreign languages and learning how to think while holding a pen or a pencil in their hands.
They don’t want their children to get caught in the trap of so-called “speed reading” or fall into the bad habit of writing by formula.
They instill in their children the practice of reading, rereading and rewriting every word they write until the sound of their own words pleases their ears.
They raise their children to give their all to the work they choose to do.
They know that if their children work through the inevitable difficulties and frustrations they will face doing any worthwhile task.
If they live their lives with integrity and treat other people ethically, they stand a good chance of being valuable to themselves and to society.?
What they won’t do is waste time chasing after test scores.