Dressed Down

Tonight's devo is about Margaret who made a 100% on her Bible test Friday. She is now an 8th grader! This is from October 13, 2008.

Due to the havoc that Hurricane Ike played with school calendars, we had our first All School Chapel this morning. Once per six weeks, we meet as a school body to honor students and teachers who have distinguished themselves in the just completed grading period. As I entered the gathering, a female student pierced my soul with three little words. Looking right at me, she proclaimed, "You don't match!" To be honest, I've heard those sentiments before. What cut me today was that this fashion critic was....four years old. That's right; a four year old kindergarten girl was dogging me about my wardrobe. I thought I was presentable; olive colored Dockers, a Geoffrey Beene blue-and-green checked white shirt, and a blue-and-gold Dead Sea Scrolls commemorative tie. But as I asked for validation during the rest of the day from my female students, there was none. Every girl in all my classes thought I was a train wreck. The boys' reaction? Who cares?
We are in the middle of our College Ed program which prepares our 7th-12th graders for the steps leading to college selection and admission. I work with Linda Shannon, a math teacher, with our 8th graders. The topic for the day dealt partly with the measuring of intelligence. To prove the point that you tend to do well in tests covering areas where you have interest, Linda and I both made ten question exams based on our genders. Hers was filled with inquiries about emery boards, clutches, and Donna Karon. My test is as follows. (The answers appear at the end of this entry.)

College Ed
Sports IQ Test Name _________________

1. Who won the Heisman Trophy last year? _________________
2. After what number foul do you foul out in an NBA game? ______
3. What does ERA stand for in baseball? ____________________________________________
4. How long is each half in a college basketball game? _______ minutes
5. What team does David Ortiz play for? ___________________
6. Does Manny Ramirez bat right handed or left handed? ______________
7. What is the team nickname for the University of North Carolina? ___________________
8. Who won the NBA championship in 2008? ________________
9. Whose nickname is The Big Diesel? _________________
10. Where did JaMarcus Russell play college football? (university) ______________

When the kids were finished and graded their gender-biased IQ tests, the boys, not surprisingly, excelled on mine and the girls fared better on Linda's. I ran my questions past some of my older sections as well. Not one girl in a class could identify Tim Tebow but 80% of the boys were able to. (Once in a class in Tennessee, I asked a young man the cost of the Dooney and Bourke purse belonging to the girl next to him. He guessed about $10. The young ladies were incredulous, knowing the price tag was close to $300.) The point we tried to make to the soon-to-be high schoolers is that intelligence comes in many forms and it measures what you have been exposed to. Not coincidentally, that exposure is often based on chromosome make-up.

What are we exposing our kids to on a daily basis? The Scriptures are replete with references to the training of each successive generation with a diet of love, discipline, and the Word of God. I am always amazed at the longing of my students for spiritual guidance and knowledge in a world that seems to reward bad behavior, disrespect, and sensuality. (One of my female students told me she had a genius ranking if IQ was measured by questions about Gossip Girl.) I'm not sure if girls' sense of fashion/matching colors is encoded in their DNA or if boys' apathy towards the same is inherent in their genetic structure. I am confident that knowledge of the holy does not come by osmosis. It is transmitted through parents and other adults who model righteousness in their lives. And apparently, that's the only type of model I am qualified to be.

Test key:
1. Tim Tebow 2. six 3. earned run average 4. twenty minutes 5. Boston Red Sox
6. right handed 7. Tar Heels 8. Boston Celtics 9. Shaquille O'Neal 10. LSU

Applicable quote of the day:
"If the Aborigine drafted an I.Q. test, all of Western civilization would presumably flunk it.”
Stanley Garn

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com