Last night, the younger Free-Ride offspring came upon me grading a stack of quizzes. (Suffice it to say that the younger Free-Ride offspring did not grab a pen and offer to help with the grading, although there was a bit of showing off by explaining the informal fallacies on the quiz to me. “Am I as smart as a college student?”)
But then things took a turn that reminded me that there are some pieces of my everyday experience that are total mysteries to a kid.
Younger offspring: Did I say the right thing to explain what was wrong about the reasoning?
Dr. Free-Ride: Pretty much. See for yourself on the answer key.
Younger offspring: (Noticing the answer key is handwritten, in purple ink) Wait, did you have to write the answers yourself?
Dr. Free-Ride: Yes, of course.
Younger offspring: It’s good that you’re smart enough to know the answers.
Dr. Free-Ride: I’d better know the answers, since I wrote the quiz.
Younger offspring: (Eyes widening) You had to write the quiz yourself, too?
Dr. Free-Ride: Kiddo, where did you think quizzes come from?
Younger offspring: I didn’t know.
Hahahahaha!! That is GOLD!!
To be fair to your son, it’s possible that he’s never seen a test that was obviously written by his teacher in school. Most elementary school worksheets and tests come in standardized lesson packets that all the teachers in a particular grade teach from.
Still an adorable story
Some people’s parents are doctors or CEOs or television personalities. Younger Offspring must be proud to know, though, that hers is the one who determines what Truth is.
Hilarious. I remember as a grade schooler marveling that someone actually wrote math textbooks. When I asked my mother about who wrote math books, she said, and I remember it to this day, “Graduate students.”
HJ
This is really funny! I guess, although they may already be pass the age of not knowing who the tooth fairy really is, there are still somethings that are still a mystery.
I agree with Kierra. And would take it a step further: To be successful, students need to be able to discern the difference between tests written by the teacher, the textbook company, and the state board of education. And employ appropriate strategies for each. For parents, I think this involves a certain amount of helping both teachers and students achieve balance. Sometimes students should go ahead and give “dumb” expected answers on “dumb” poorly conceived tests. Sometimes teachers need to be prodded to get away from rote memory and on to something that involves actual thinking.