Exams, Reality Shows and Other Rites of Passage
There’s been an explosion of reality TV contests – the Next Big Whatever Star. While the chance to become a celebrity lures contestants, I think it’s the grueling rite of passage that lures viewers. Last month we had exams at the Process Work Institute, which were fairly intense 3 day affairs, with 5 different exams per student. It’s interesting that in the adult education field that I’m in, exams are controversial and their value suspect. And yet, there’s this fascination in watching these demanding and punishing contests.
Over the 20+ years we have been training people in Process-oriented psychology and group facilitation, we have gone back and forth between pass/fail exams in some form and a non-pass/fail system of using gates or benchmarks to pass through one phase to another. It seems every couple of years or so, we debate getting rid of exams. They’re an arcane gate-keeping system that does little to foster or measure real growth in knowledge, skills and ability. And yet we come back to them in some form or other. I think, beyond the test of skills and abilities, they offer an opportunity par excellence to stretch beyond oneself, and for that reason, they are hard to abolish.
I think this is especially valuable in professions where performance under pressure is demanded. The exam simulates the pressures of the job or situation for which the examinee is being tested. The black belt exams in the martial arts are like that, or the bar exam. And I think there should be a leadership test, as well, where leaders in training have to undergo something that simulates the stress and psychological pressures of the job.
One such test is The Knowledge, the exam to drive a black cab in London, and the world’s most demanding taxicab driver test. I thought my Latin exam was tough! In The Knowledge applicants spend an average of 34 months memorizing 320 routes – 25,000 streets in a 6 mile radius of Charing Cross. After passing the written test, they are then allowed to make an “appearance” in (i.e., sit for) the oral examination. Here’s an example – just one of dozens of parts to the test:
Each examination will involve the examiner asking you to state the location of two specified points of interest. This can be a street, a square, etc. or a named building, in other words anywhere that a taxi passenger might ask to be taken. If you can give the correct locations of the two points you will be asked to describe the shortest possible route between the two.
While some exams don’t necessarily simulate the pressure of a job, their rigor alone makes them a rite of passage, a trial of determination, focus and will. For me, it was the State Latin exam at the University of Zurich which I thankfully passed in 1985.
As a young foreign student at the University of Zurich, I trembled at the thought of it. Stories circulated about students who finished all their course work and wrote a brilliant these but could not graduate because they were stuck in Latin purgatory. The written exam (the easier one) meant translating one of Cicero’s speeches without dictionaries and within a two hour limit. And the oral exam was to read aloud, in perfect meter and pronunciation, a short section from one of the 12 books of the Aeneid, and answer questions about the epic.
As I write, it’s hard to recall how I passed that exam. And that is the beauty of a rite of passage – whether exam, life event, contest or other challenge. It pulls something out of us that we would otherwise not be able to access. It brings forth the conditions of “game day,” the ability to access skills and perform under enormous pressure and stress.
Back to our program. I like that we have exams, that we expect people to use their awareness under pressure and subject themselves to the rigors of the experience. And of course, pressure is not enough. Good teaching has to occur, support and coaching has to be present. And sometimes failing can be the perfect life lesson. The rite of passage is unpredictable. It’s not just about getting through, it’s about the crossing of an edge, the passage from one state of mind to another, and discovering things in ourselves we otherwise would not have encountered. In that sense, it really is a test of character: can you make the most out of what life presents? When I look at how our students, I feel they passed that test with flying colors.
I was a student who took the exams at the Process Work Institute in May of this year. Here is some of the feedback I sent to the faculty and administration after the exams. It was in part prompted by a passing comment from a fellow student about the validity of pass-fail exams in the program.
I thought the exam process went very well for me personally and for our cohort in general. I think it is a very important part, maybe even an essential part of the program. Going thru it showed me the value of a formal (pass-fail) approach to competency evaluation when embedded in a learning/training philosophy & culture based largely on experiential components with heavy doses of true emotional support and attention to the individual’s learning path.
I think some students feel it is somehow incongruent that a program that is so supportive at personal level, then resorts to a pass-fail evaluation system. But I think it is a wonderful that in an adult learning community conventional pass-fail exams can be an even more powerful learning tool than in other traditional educational settings. Let me say more…
The exam process was really interesting and enriching. I can say honesltly, now having gone thru phase 1 and 2 exams, that they are REALLY good experiences. I learned a lot about my own learning and the level of integration I had achieved in the process of preparing for the exams. I discovered previously unrecognized knowledge and inner & outer experience that I had (within me) to draw on and I was compelled to step up to a new level of intervention and facilitation. The exam situation helped me take leaps forward in my learning by confronting me with a demand to reach beyond my current level of competence and comfort.
I do have to retake one ofthe five exams, so I didn’t just sail thru the process — it was a challenge. And I saw others, challenged in unique and personal ways (before, during and after the actual exams), overcome inner and outer hurdles to embrace themselves, their learning, the feedback and the support offered all around. The exam process seemed to hold students to learning edge where we each faced specific uncertainties, gaps of knowledge or incompletely assimilated learning and had to go beyond the assumed limit of our current capabilities.
The feedback in and after the exams was very clear, specific and useful. I am not sure if this is because the stakes are higher for everyone (examiners and students alike) than in other classroom or supervisory encounters or if this is just specific to me.
The feedback was also incredibly consistent from one exam to the next. This high level of inter-rater reliability is very telling that there are specific strucutural components to processes that can be observed and identified and that there are both internal reliablity and validity to process work theory, methods and the teaching process that is in place within the Institute.
I would say our group was supported and well-prepared for the exams (both rounds) by faculty, program structure and curricula as well as the PW culture and it seems that everyone in our cohort prepared themselves well (studying, practicing, getting supervision, doing inner work and using therapy). The broader community is unbelievably supportive and generous during the exam process — all of the warmth, participation and sincerity in the effort of the many clients, group participants and biesitzers is a reflection and affirmation of the strength, depth and reach of the work being done at PWI. Undoubtably these factors impact the value students are able to take from the exam experience, but these features of the learning community also enable the student to go just a little bit further in themselves.
I can only say good things about the exam experience, the learning, the faculty, the administration, the community and the program. I love school and have spent a lot of time in schools,seminars and training programs – but I have had no other experiences that come close to what I have experienced at PWI in terms of deeply meaningful, authentic and ongoing encouragement (this word pales in comparison to what I exerience which is much more like love) in this multifaceted learning & growth experience called the diploma program in process work.
I have felt, over these 3 years, and feel in this moment, the sincerity, fidelity, appreciation, trust, affection, respect and regard of the entire faculty and administration. For this and all the hours and years of introspection, contemplation, discussion, processing, questing and commitment that preceded my opportunity to benefit and share this exam experience, I thank you deeply. CT