This morning I proctored my kindergarteners' first Benchmark Exam. This test determines what level class they'll find themselves in come first grade time. They took it about as seriously as you'd expect. I don't like administering tests to kids that young, it's quite frustrating. Our material is designed for native tongue English speakers, so the tests can be a little loose tossing out new vocab. When I can't tell a kid that "perhaps" is a way of saying "maybe", a man has thoughts and feelings.
I came up with a theory today which explains why parents can be so concerned about their kids. It helps if you're familiar with Schrodinger's Cat. If you're a parent and it occurs to you that while walking home from school your kid might get hit by a car, then until the kid gets home safely, they have been hit by that car. Any marginally rational fear is magnified by the inabilty to verify. Until little Billy gets home from prom, he has simultaneously gotten someone pregnant, smoked the devil's weed, fought a priest, died, robbed a bank, and been found guilty of treason by a secret military tribunal.
I apologize for the thought experiment, by when you're sitting helplessly by watching six year olds take a test which their parents have told them determines their entire futures, you start thinking.
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