ACT, SAT, TGB

I don't know a family that isn't aware of the ACT (American College Test) and SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) which are "standardized" tests and presumed to be a measure of college readiness. Tests such as the ACT and SAT are genuinely helpful if one really is assessing college readiness in certain basic disciplines (the operative concept). The ACT folks say as much in their literature.

Such tests are acceptable servants if skill assessment is all that is in view. They are often used, however, as discrimination tests for college entry;competitive measures of suitabilityand deservedness. In other words, "Who do we let in?" and "Who do we give the money to?" For the unwary student or parent, these can become unmerciful masters that dictate and drive one's view of the purpose, expected outcomes, and "usefulness" of education. After all, there are worldview implications in what questions are included and what are excluded. Thus the test dictates the presumed expectations.

As Christians, we are compelled to use a more demanding and discriminating measure of readiness for our students who are completing high school. The ACT or SAT are okay enough for their limited purpose, but over and above these we ought to use TGB. TGB is a measure that extends well beyond college and into real life, because in addition to the academic endeavor, it assesses the quality of business effectiveness, science effectiveness, as well as readiness in fine arts, leisure, medicine, public policy and everything else we touch.

TGB stands for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. These are the objectives of a Classical Christian education. These qualities are to be learned, embraced and infused into the life of every teacher and student. To restate what Robert Maynard Hutchins has said so well in The Great Conversation, “The aim of liberal education is human excellence, both private and public. Its object is the excellence of man as man and man as citizen. It regards man as an end, not as a means, and it regards the ends of life, and not the means to it." The ends of life are TGB. TGB is the measure of human excellence.

We must not treat Truth, Goodness and Beauty as abstract concepts, but as qualities permeating everything we are as human beings and carried into every arena of our calling. This is a complex dynamic since as human persons we are intricate and complex creatures who interact with one another in intricate and complex ways. Truth, goodness and beauty are discerned and then built into our character, perceptions, thought life, all our relationships, service and leadership. We then carry them as individuals into our families, churches and communities. Family, church and community, as little societies influenced by individuals, bring truth, goodness and beauty to one another.

It is ever the goal of Classical Christian education to bring this, along with the skills of learning and thinking, to the forefront, which is why we cannot ever explain what we do in a sound bite. Irrespective of how high an SAT or ACT might be, to the degree that our education fails to instill TGB, we fail everywhere else that's important.