GREat Diversity

The issue of haves and have nots now transcend the physical borders into the boundless virtual space. The more proponents of diversity make a case for it the more racism push the borders of inclusion.

Students and teachers strike during my first degree cost me a year in college during which the need for diversity led me to prefer study abroad for a master degree. But, how? Though I could use the internet, I did not know beyond the basic workings of the computer. Today folks are talking about IT rights; making it available even in places where electricity is still a dream. The question is, how much access to information does having a tool you do not know how to use provide?

When the opportunity for study abroad came miraculously, I realized the part that access and skill played. But access to the internet and skill to search out necessary information would not have been adequate if my nightmare – standardized exam – was not waived by my dearest CIS-OU.

The fear of standardized exams have kept millions from acquiring more knowledge to better their lot, it has limited the opportunities available to thousands. How do I ever understand the feel of the word “snow” if I only see it in the pages of books and on television? How will I use the word “ubiquitous” if on my side of the divide omnipresent or everywhere is sufficient. Yet, the GRE continues to be used as a tool for discriminating against the haves – who have access to big unnecessary vocabulary – and the have nots – who are only fortunate to receive education. Why need I do math – my weakness – if I signed out of it years back in other to focus on my core area, humanities - my strength.

Even the GREat creators and evaluators of GRE says it is not a test of intelligence only a test to see how one can respond to standard “regimented” command or better put political order that has come to characterize the academic world.

The pill of GRE, GMAT etc is now being prescribed all over the world as a medication to limit and exclude the have nots. A man who has struggled through the village ranks may never find out what GRE is but will find out to his dismay that he lost the job because he did not possess what he did not know about. Countries have been deceived into oiling the western wheels through an exam that is designed for westerners who have studied from elementary to college in the west.

I once helped a boy in an elementary school survive a simple fraction nightmare by using my own BODMAS (Brackets, Order, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction) method. The boy had been labeled “special” for his inability to understand PEDMAS (Parenthesis Exponents Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction) yet he used the method I taught him to the surprise of his teacher who had to look for me to make sense of the simpler method. To my surprise she said “I can’t teach this [shorter] process to the others, but if he understands it this way, I’ll be glad to let him use it.” I can’t tell if she kept her promise but if she did how will the boy survive the standards fashioned in steel years ahead of him?

The day we modify GRE to have different methods that test different personality and knowledge types will be the day when GRE becomes truly a GREAT test of true knowledge.