This is Only a Test

What could it be? What should it ask? What should you study to prepare? Who administers and who participates?

These are just a few more questions, in an infinite line of questions, that I seek today to expound upon. What constitutes a test, and why might we fear them? For one, they can limit, but they can also prove. They can embarrass or they can extol. They make us feel things, and it's just a test remember.

These tests practice what we know, and school us on what is important. But what if those are arbitrary? What if the knowledge is useless and the importance fallacy? Who creates these constructs of what should and what shouldn't be? This is where freedom steps in again [to save the day].

Quick think of a test, any test. What did you think of? I honestly thought of a test of some sort of drill or
plan, a fire escape plan. You may have thought of a bubble test (given your probable age) or a Scantron. Others, older, may think of a demonstration of their abilities, their experience placed in the hands of a grade. Tests are important, or unimportant, for many reasons. They show others you're qualified or show how fast you can make little circles with graphite and wooden sticks. They represent the desire to measure, and in society, they show a need for scales. To be able to discern between the "have's" and the "have-not's".

Like I said, they can be official, important, necessary, or trivial, boring, repetitive. Some people are incredibly good at them, making them just a matter of answering a question or matching some letters. To others, panic can set it, they're afraid, afraid if what a single test can show. The unknown of their ability to remember information all at once in a single sitting. Helpful or not, not everybody is effected by tests. Pass or fail, they vary in severity and in difficulty. It's important to use the right test lest you waste your time. I like to think of my test as a sort of ability exercise. Can I create freely without needing to barrow? To refer? To repeat? What works and what doesn't? What do I and others respond to, and how can I make those responses change? My test is more of a conversation, pick anything, everything is free game.