I'd like to consider myself 4-0 against the tests this week (at least based on pass vs. fail. Otherwise I might be 3-0-1, but ties count as passes so I'm 4-0). And that deserves some free time (apart from the nap I took this afternoon). Thus the myspace usage.
Test weeks are funny creatures (at least in my experience, which is only an opinion, but it's also true, so just believe it). Firstly (and this is really my only point, so don't be expecting a "Secondly"), they are very socially alienating. Most of my conversations start with "So, how're the exams treating you?" (the typical answer is "alright....") and they last, on average, less than 2 minutes and consist of test-related topics. Of course this is not surprising. It's the system. The education system says "We respect exam scores, and our respect is worth degrees and residency placements" and we, the students, who have bought into the educational system credos, say "Yes master. We will take your holy tests and determine our self-worth from the results."
If I seriously have to believe that to make it as a doctor, count me the hell out. It's not that I don't see the usefulness of tests, I just don't think their correlation coefficient with knowledge is very good (or at least I don't believe it's within any sort of 95% confidence interval. yeah, take that you stupid statistic loving system. i'm saying you don't measure up by your own yardsticks).
Look it's not that I think academia is a bad thing. But we get mad when our church or state leaders break church or state laws (i.e. act hypocritically). Shouldn't we hold the institutions of knowledge to the same standards? And at least religion and governments have some leniency for acting in the spirit of the law, if not the letter of the law; that is to say, intent is worth something. But education seems much more eager to hand out failing scores.
That being said, there are damn good teachers out there who understand that the point of instruction is learning, and that a test isn't always an accurate reflection of the learning that has gone on. Furthermore, I think (or at least hope) there is some part of academia that is trying to resolve the whole testing to learning issue. Or maybe tests are something akin to affirmative action; it's not a good system but it's the best we've got. Or maybe I just don't like playing by other people's rules (which, curiously, is exactly what sports and video games are, so I guess it's not that).
Or maybe I'm just making this all up/blowing it out of proportion. It's hard to say.
Oh, and Secondly, test week is driving me insane. Or maybe it's the headache that's doing that.
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