Should Preschool Children Have to Worry About Being Tested?

When preschoolers prepare to be pushed into the world, they're subjected to sight and hearing evaluations. They approach it with a sad but realistic outlook towards their futures. It's sad because such young children shouldn't have to worry about tests. It's realistic because that's the manner in which we train our youth.

Some of the children have glasses. Often they're smudged and a bit lop-sided from too much rough handling (the glasses, not necessarily the children). The glasses have to be removed for the beginning of the evaluation, leaving a few of the children virtually sightless.

So they cheated.

Over and over we evaluators would explain to them that this wasn't a test. That it didn't matter how they responded, that their answers would always right. They would nod solemnly-and then struggle on with the problem. They would squint and cock their heads. When they had to hold a sheet of paper in front of one eye, they would try and peep around it. Over and over we told them it was okay, that it didn't matter.

They knew better. They saw ahead of them a lifetime of tests and contests where they would be found to be competent or to be failures. They understood exactly what was happening to them. They were being tested. The great thing was that they had no intention of being found wanting-not if they could help it. They understood the real rules of life.

The other thing they would do is watch and study our faces intently, particularly during the hearing exams. They would start to raise a hand, judging our reactions. It was fascinating and wonderful to see. A slight frown from the tester and they would change their answers. Those were the children who would do okay in life. They would learn what they had to do to survive.

Still, it was sad. They were so little to have to feel that life was out to get them. It would take years, if not a lifetime, to understand that life isn't a series of tests. It's a series of lessons and our answers are not always yes or no. Sometimes they're 'maybes'. And every lesson learned is simply a prelude to the next one.