I got a little distracted from researching my Early Church Fathers paper. Somehow I ended up on one of those Encarta quizzes where you get to answer questions about meaningless things to make yourself feel smart. I took several.
As a result, I have learned that when it comes to quote completion and my knowledge of the French language, I am "very smart" (10/10). When it comes to world mythological figures and Jewish holidays, I am also smart (but I missed one or two). And lastly, when it comes to movie quotes, I am pretty dumb. Ok, it doesn't actually say I'm dumb, but when you only get 2/13 correct, you're not looking too bright.
The thing is, it's not too hard to ace most multiple-choice quizzes if you know how to read the questions. I can use my basic knowledge and analyze what they're wanting for an answer. It's not difficult, usually. But it's all impractical and it doesn't really paint an accurate picture of what knowledge a person really has.
For instance, my knowledge of French, though it was decent during my freshman year in undergrad, is somewhat pathetic at this point. Given each of the sentences in the quiz, I would have (often) had to answer, "Je ne sais pas" (or "I don't know"). Throw me in France, and I would be [how do you say "screwed"?]. Yet with the choices before me, I found it easy to narrow down to the final (correct) answers.
Life doesn't happen in multiple choice, unfortunately. And it's a lot harder to actually be smart in life than it is to be smart on a quiz.
At some point in time, we have to be able to think. We have to be able to not just choose from a list of options, but rather, find our way to creative solutions. Apply our knowledge. Make our learning into something that actually makes us better people, not just better guessers.
Does our education prepare us for this? Or is it even the responsibility of our education to do so?
I mean, maybe it has nothing at all to do with our education. Maybe we just like to blame our education (or lack thereof, or lack of quality, or our teachers' bias, or whatever) for the mistakes that we make in life. Why did I screw up? I didn't know better. Why didn't I know better? I wasn't taught.
But maybe I was taught. Maybe I didn't listen. Maybe I didn't have the mental capacity to understand. Maybe multiple-choice answers were the best I could do at a certain time. Maybe the shift to practical application didn't happen because of me and not because of anything to do with how I was or was not educated.
However you look at it, it all comes down to personal responsibility. I will think. I will consider future implications of current actions. I will not be limited to an a-b-c list of options.
Because life isn't just a series of multiple-choice questions. We've got a lot of responsibility and a lot yet to learn.
1 comment:
Well, you're one up on me. I had to quit going to school altogether before I figured this one out. Believe me, I haven't "figured it out" in the ultimate sense. Just in the sense that I finally discovered that after 4 years in undergrad and 3 years in lawschool (where one is taught to "think like a lawyer" but not) that one can figure out how to get a really killer GPA without knowing a thing, other than how to read professors. While I never seemed to take the classes with multiple choice exams, I'd found the "key" to essay exams. You learn what the teacher wants! Do they want an answer they haven't thought of before? Give it to them, even if it's not your point of view. Do they want to see the question from all conceivable perspectives? Do that. Do they have a formula in which they like your answer to be? Follow the formula. Work their theories, philosophies, etc. into your answer, where it fits. Not the whole thing, just enough. Needless to say, essay exams are no more like life than multiple choice ones. In real life, you have to come up with your own answers. To real questions, not hypotheticals. In short: I agree, whole-heartedly. It just took me a while longer to figure this out than it took you!
Post a Comment