Life with The Curly Girly Trio has been quite hectic. We have moved in with my parents while The Doctor is settled in with his Dad and we are in limbo until the house situation works itself out. Life goes on and with that comes the state standardized tests. I'm sure most states have them and unless your child attends private school in which they can be opted out, you've seen your kids prep and fret and fret and prep. And for what? For a silly test the state feels is a good indicator at how well the school is performing. It's utterly ludicrous that the grade of the school lies in the hands of a bunch of nervous kids. Kids who have been told their livelihood in school depends on how they do on these tests. I fully know that most teachers don't tell that to their students, but they are hearing it somewhere and it makes them nervous all the same.
I don't know anyone who likes these tests. I'm friends with a lot teachers and all of them complain. I'm friends with a lot of parents and all of them complain too. I often say if the state wants to see how a school is performing, give the kids an end of the year test at the beginning of the year, and the same test at the end of the year and compare the results, but that's too easy for the wonderful non educator politicians running our state.
I can complain all I want, but that isn't going to change the fact that both B and M have these dreaded tests tomorrow. M has the second day of the English Language Arts and B has the all comprehensive science test. It has questions from 6-8 grade science and while one would hope the kids would have remembered pertinent information from 6th, 7th, and the beginning and middle of 8th grades, lets face it, most of these kids can't remember to do their chores or turn in their homework.
I picked up B from school this afternoon and the first thing she asked me was, "What's for dinner?"
"Salmon, rice, some kind of veggie and a salad," I replied.
"I'm supposed to carb load. Can we please have pasta?" she asked.
"Carb load??" I asked, incredulously. "Are you running a marathon?"
"Mommy! Mr. F says it's important to carb load before a big test!" she exclaimed, highly offended. "But fine, if you want me to fail the big test, that's OK with me!"
"Uh. . . It's important to carb load before a big race. It's important to get rest and eat a healthy breakfast before a big test," I explained, as patiently as I could.
"You don't understand!! Mr. F did a study and found that when you eat a lot of carbs the night before a big test it keeps your brain going during the test! But I get it. You want me to fail. That's OK. I won't score well, I won't get into the bioengineering program at the high school* next year and that will set me up for failure for everything else!" she huffed.
I was really baffled. I tried not to laugh and to keep my voice steady.
"B, whether or not you get into the bioengineering program, if we are even in an area zoned for that school, doesn't set up the rest of your life. It's 9th grade. You have the rest of high school, college, and medical school and I guarantee you, whether or not you were in a bioengineering program in high school won't determine whether you get into college and medical school."
She muttered a little bit more about how it was fine if I wanted her to fail so I tried explaining again what these tests are for.
"B, listen to me. Your score doesn't determine whether or not you move on to 9th grade and beyond. Getting a low score isn't enough to hold you back; there's a process to go through if you don't do well. You have taken so many of these tests in your life as a student, not once did you carb load and you did well every single time. I really don't think carb loading is the answer. Remember, these tests determine the grade of the school, so everyone at the school is trying to get you students pumped up to do well. You just need to relax. Along with carb loading, did Mr. F give you a study guide or anything of value to help you study?"
"Yes," she replied with an eye roll and a snotty tone.
"Well, good, then instead of carb loading, why don't you load your brain with that information?"
"I'm going to look up what you're supposed to eat before a big test when we get home. Actually, can I just use your phone?" said while grabbing my phone.
She was quiet for a few minutes and I took that time to enjoy the peacefulness.
"It says here you are supposed to eat a lot of carbs the night before running a race," B read.
"Hmm. . . really?" I replied. At this point we were sitting in the car in front of the house. I turned off the car. "Can you please look up the rest once we're inside?"
"Hold on," she answered. "It says here before a big test you should eat high protein and foods with fatty acids and fruits and veggies."
"Mm hmm," I replied nonchalantly, opening the trunk so she could retrieve her backpack and trumpet.
"I guess the salmon and veggies for dinner is OK after all," she concluded, with a smile.
"Well, what do you know?" I said as we walked toward the house. (That's Mom Speak for "Told you so!!!")
Add another tick to all the times Mom was right!
* We haven't yet determined where exactly we will be next year, but one of the high schools has a bioengineering track that B is very excited about.
