GES-2 Motivation Assessment

It would be funny to say that I was not motivated to do well on the Motivation Assessment. Funny.

I cheat on tests like this. I rarely answer questions truthfully when it comes to motivation, personality, and things like that. I spend a great deal of time analyzing questions trying to figure out what my answer would mean by rating it on the like to dislike, true to false scale usually provided. I am not fooled (or so I think) by the test makers randomizing the types of questions found on the test. The GES¬-2 is a fine test and I have no problem with it other than the fact that it tries to test too much at once. You can use this test to . . . okay, according to a creativelearning.com website, it assesses giftedness in intellectual, creative, specific academic, and/or leadership ability (or in the performing arts). As a test taker, I was all my questions sorted. I don’t want to have to figure out which questions are the creative ones and which are the motivational ones.

I’m confused, though. GES means Gifted Evaluation Scale. Is that the test? or just the scale used to assess the test.

Sheesh. According to the hes-inc.com website, you can purchase the GES-3 for a mere $90. Are we really motivated enough to spend that much money on a kid who might be like me and lie throughout the test to give you the answers he thinks you want? Not me, bucko. I want to spend that money on high-interest materials that will make all kids interested.

We can’t talk about race that much. We can’t talk about gender that much either. There’s a lot of things I won’t say here (whether I believe them or not) about why this person or that person will do better on the GES. Even saying that there are things that I won’t say is problematic.

I am, however, a product of my environment. My father is a workaholic. He remained retired for about four months before he got himself another full-time job. He had worked with the phone company for nearly thirty years. My folks aren’t rich, but they certainly don’t need the money. I grew up with a mother who rode horses and stayed home with the kids (my sister and me). She worked a little, part time jobs, mostly horse-related. I grew up with the understanding that men were supposed to work and women were allowed to work. It’s okay for a woman to have a job, nothing wrong with that, but it’s secondary to the man’s job. I know I’m supposed to be motivated to work, to build, to create just because I am a man. For my twelve years of married life, my job has been the primary money-earner. My wife is not far behind and she does work full-time. I wonder, though, does she work full time because we need the money (which we do, bills to pay) or is it because she wants to work. I’d love to stay home and take care of the house and read books all day long, but that would make me less of a man, wouldn’t it? That would mean I’m not motivated. But just like my father, I plan to stay with the same career for the rest of my life. My wife has had four different career-type jobs in the past 12 years.

Let’s leave race out of this, shall we?

I have to say I am at a loss as to who should administer the GES and why. I don’t see what motivation (specifically) has to do with giftedness. I see that as an independent factor. I can be motivated to build houses but suck at it. I can be completely unmotivated to design new cars and yet be the foremost genius in the field. Yeah, I get it. You have to be motivated on some level to allow someone to be able to see your giftedness. I get that. Yet I still mock.
Scoring. I understand the need for different scales for different ages, even for male/female test-takers. The six-year-old taking charge of doing his homework is highly motivated, but we can’t exactly expect this kid to start a local chapter of Amnesty International. I’m sure there’s some six-year-old out there who’s done it, but it’s rare. Older kids, the teens and late teens, they have to do more to be considered motivated. Makes perfect sense to me.

I dislike, however, the flaw in the system. The judge. Handing these out to various teachers, coaches, parents, friends who are involved in the allegedly gifted kid’s life puts a kink in the system that is, as I see it, unavoidable. You have to trust other people. Even if those other people might have a grudge against the kid. Now we get into statistics and standard deviations and margins for error. I, as a tenth grader, was a perfect child behavior-wise for my first five classes. When I got to sixth period, I was a nut. Can’t quite explain it, but if my sixth block Geometry teacher had filled out any sort of behavior-analysis form on me, it would have contrasted starkly with my other five teachers. It’s a flaw, but unavoidable.