I am going to assess my child. Like total assessmenty data data data… I will find some format to asses her against, I’ll write a rubric. This will make her a better person… force her to be better at stuff… stuff that I, as an adult, know better will be good for her to know… the stuff that will get her a job and make her fit her into the system. It will let me know if she is a failure or not. It will let me know what to teach her because I am allowed to play with her agency, I am allowed to imply what stuff she is interested in is of value or not. I own her. I am an adult.

I could use some of that formative assessment – find out what she knows so I can cram some more stuff in.

Or some of that summitive assessment so that I know if she passes or fails being the example 12 year old.

I can even assess her social emotional learning… I mean, I don’t know anything about some of that new technology communication stuff, but I am still allowed to tell her how to do it. She is just a small person, so I, with my infinite wisdom, can mould her to fit into the world that I grew up in, make everything the same as it was, when people knew their place…. when kids were kids.

Does she even know how to do the stuff she doesn’t want to do – apparently an important lesson for nearly taller smaller people. After all, how will she be able to perform and stick at a job… I am shirking the job of the taller, bigger person to inforce this!

arghhh

I recognise my child as a separate person with her own mana. I look at her, and increasingly, I look at her in wonder. H is another whole person that happened to come out of my body. A smaller person… as there is only 1 cm in it, I will have to start saying a taller, smaller person.

H has her own dreams, knows when a mistake has been made in her relationships with others, she has her own standards, knows how to ask for help when it is needed, she has her own voice… her opinions often reflect mine, but she knows how to pull them apart as she has seen me do this. She is happy. Her life contains joy. She is mostly free. She has so many ideas and knows how to execute them – though the ideas are getting bigger so we need community now to make them even bigger and be able to execute them!!

Would I say this if there wasn’t evidence that she is a total nerd – and seriously thinks about things? Then I’d say stuff about her capacity for generosity or some such.

People who are exposed to the world learn from the world and can participate in the world. The last time I looked school wasn’t the world. I’ll assess her against the world.