This week students around Indianapolis and the entire state
of Indiana are taking a test called ISTEP (Indiana Statewide Testing for
Educational Progress). The stated
purpose of the test is to measure student achievement in English, Math, Science
and Social Studies. Critics have stated
that some schools focus too much on students passing this test than actually
learning the material in each subject area.
One thing I have learned in my life is that test scores
never really measured my ability to succeed.
I recall while in college one of my advisors was trying to give me some academic
feedback. He dutifully pulled out my academic
record and looked at my Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores from high
school. It was as though those scores
represented all that I was in life. I
remember thinking, “does he really think my SAT scores define me as a human
being?”
Then as I was preparing for a career after college I
encountered another “test” measurement.
To gain permanent entry into professional and administrative jobs in the
Federal sector, applicants had to pass
the Professional and Administrative Career Examination (PACE) test. As a college junior I took the test but did
not gain a passing score. Shortly after
that, the test was found to be culturally/racially biased and was abolished. The test questions were designed to fit the
experiences of European Americans. As a
result more European Americans passed the test than minorities. Once the PACE test was abolished the final
hurdle to my starting a career in Human Resources (HR) in the federal
government was eliminated.
Once the test that would have kept me out of the federal
system was abolished, it was then up to me to perform. I took advantage of the opportunity, applied
myself on the job, learned my trade, sought challenges and quickly moved up via
a series of promotions. During those
early years I was often the only black male in the office. I rarely encountered role models either in HR
or other occupations whom I could look to for guidance or support. In terms of human help, I was on my own. I moved up in specialist positions to
supervisory positions. Again, I was the
only black male in HR in a supervisory position. I moved into a key HR managerial position
that managed one part of a 20,000 person federal agency’s human resources
program.
I then yearned to move further up the management chain but
encountered the “glass ceiling” where black males were not given the
opportunity to move into key positions.
So, I left that agency and moved to a position in another agency where I
was the Director of Human Resources a position I wasn’t allowed to have in my
prior agency. It was from my new agency
that I retired at age 55 after working 35 years for the federal government.
If the PACE test had remained in place, I would have never
had the opportunity to have the successful career that I had. If I believed that my SAT score represented
all I could be in life, I may not have sought the challenges I did in
life. But, I understood that man made
tests do not measure my desire, my will to achieve, nor represent what God had
in mind for me. Test scores are just the
result of how a person deals with a human made system of questions. What makes those questions the most important
ones that someone should be judged by?
Tests are designed to weed out people not to identify who is the
best. Tests are arbitrary instruments
used for the purpose of exclusion.
To those Indiana students taking the tests I
would say, do the best that you can.
But, don’t let the results of the test label you into a specific
category for your entire life. If you do
well, great! If you don’t do well still
pursue your goals and keep trying to get better. Life does not end just because you don’t get
an appropriate test score. I can vouch
for that through my experiences. I am
retired and living a non stressed life with financial stability. In whatever you do apply yourself and let your
actions, not test scores speak for you
