Post 221 | Tests

So... School... It's... Well... Hard.

School is incredibly difficult. Sure a lot of my time is spent sitting around watching the West Wing or something, but when you get down to it, school is very difficult. Tomorrow, or today I guess, I will be spending multiple hours studying for a test I have on Tuesday. It will probably be one of the more difficult tests I have had the liberty to subject myself to.

Ya see, all of this school is optional. I could drop out, start working full time or something, and just keep going with my life. I have chosen to throw myself into this wonderful land of school and tests.

Why title this posts 'Tests' if I am just going to ramble on about how hard school is, well I'll get to that.

Ya see, I really like school. Dare say, I love school. I love learning and expanding my mind. I have no problem with school being difficult, I just have a problem with the whole 'Testing' aspect of school.

We had a discussion in my Ethics of Communication class a few weeks ago about this very subject: Tests. What about them? Are they pointless in the 'Age of Information' that we live in? Maybe? Perhaps? Sometimes I think so.

The first test we had in Ethics nearly everyone failed. I don't mean "got a 64" failed I mean "Oh... My score was a 32... Mine was a 53..." failed. Most, if not all of us, bombed it with every fiber of our being. The ironic part is while taking the test, I thought I was doing quite well. There were a few questions I had difficulty answering, but overall I believed my answers to be strong and well written. It was purely an essay test in case you were wondering.

But someone in the class brought up a very good point during our discussion on tests. She asked what the point of them is now that if we need to know something we have access to that information at our fingertips. Literally. Whip out my smart phone and I can tell you just about anything you want to know.

I think the idea of college is moving from information based, to application based. I believe that we need to know how to apply information rather than know that information. If I forget some guy's name that deals with some theoretical principle, should I be held accountable to that in the real world? Not really.

Instead I should just know the principle, or even if I forget the finer details in passing, be able to recall those. But I should not have to know everyone involved with every idea, or even every idea for that matter. If I was given a list of those ethical principles or theories or what-have-you I would be able to tell you what they all are. I think that is the sort of knowledge college classes should be focusing on teaching.

Not whether or not I can connect the name of the person whose ideas the principle stemmed from. Of course I could just being nit-picky with it all and should really just accept tests in school. But I think whoever is reading this understands the point I am trying to make.

The Professor, or Doctor now, who teachers Ethics is incredibly intelligent, but not even she can recall all of the information we need to know for these tests on a whim. What makes it even more infuriating is that for say a fifteen point question, we need to know thirty facts about what we are writing. What if we cannot recall twenty-five facts in that instant? What if there are not even fifteen separate facts for that topic? AH. DAMN. RIGHT?

It can be quite infuriating at times. It is all very interesting, just infuriating. The communications professors, two specifically, are incredibly difficult to handle. I think the communications major is one of the most difficult majors here. The basic and even advanced media classes are not that difficult, but when we start looking into the more theoretical classes like Persuasion in Media or Ethics in Communication or Professional Communication, it becomes more and more difficult to handle.

But hey, if I work through it and succeed like I am trying to, I will get one hell of an education. Which is ironic considering I go to a Christian school... Haha, I am not even sure if I am Christian entirely. It's a weird thing right now. Oh well, that's a topic for a different night.

Well, that was a longer post than I anticipated it being. Once I get on a roll I tend not to stop. Well if you read that whole thing thank you very much, and if not, maybe you should? Comment on what you think about tests! 

I'll probably have a campaign post coming up what with the election in a week or so. I submitted my absentee ballot last week. HOW AWESOME IS THAT TO VOTE RIGHT. I voted for President Barack Obama in case you were wondering. Thanks again for reading. Till next time!