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6.19.2008

Responsibility for testing


Doesn't the expert have to be the one responsible for testing my understanding or abilities?

Large systems want you to think that and hope you'll continue to pay exorbitant fees to get tested. All those systems are operating in failure mode. They are happy to administer the test and do nothing about the test results. Agricultural agencies test for top soil depletion and ground water poisoning. Quality monitoring systems test for deviance from policy standards of food, safety practices, pollution levels, professional conduct and accounting practices. Health care systems gives batteries to tests to identify a condition. Academic systems conduct tests of students' comprehension. All these systems report on the results. None of the systems take action to improve test scores or revise themselves so the outcomes get better.

Are you saying that testing provides useless information?
When the tests are administered by large systems, you got that right. However you just gave me a test question which tested my understanding of this facet of responsibility. My answer tested you on making the connection to "providing useful information". I presume we both passed each other's tests and will continue to change ourselves in response to the outcomes of those tests. We're providing each other with useful information by testing each other with questions and answers.

How can giving a student the answers be a viable test?
Tests happen all the time. We test our own understanding of something by trying to explain or do something. We test others ability to explain or do something when we ask them a question. We test new ideas and approaches to see if they work for us and discover how we need to change. We test people to see if they are who they say they are. We get tested by others whenever we are asked a question or given an answer by them.

Why can't large systems respond to their own test results like we're doing?
They are designed to abdicate responsibility for their effects on others. They "disown their externalities" and burden society with those side effects of their irresponsible conduct. Their system parameters dictate administering tests as the end in itself, not the means to an end. They operate as closed, belief systems obsessed with more of the same busywork. Large systems cannot transform themselves, learn from what happens or heal the planet.

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