Efficiency

When my oldest daughter, Lily, was in fifth grade, I noticed her test scores going down. My husband and I had lots of talks with her about the importance of working hard and trying her best, but it didn’t make much difference. In fact, her scores slipped even further. After praying about what to do, I began to wonder if Lily was discouraged. Maybe she didn’t believe she could do well, so she’d stopped trying. I wasn’t sure if that was the real explanation or not, but it seemed possible. So, I prayed that God would help me find ways to encourage her about her schoolwork.

Right after that I found an essay test she’d recently gotten back with a big red “F” on it. She was supposed to have a parent sign it and then return it to school, but instead she’d crumpled it up and stuffed it in the bottom of her backpack. Glancing through it I could easily see why the teacher had given her a bad grade. 

This was the first question on the test: When little Jimmy found out he couldn’t be in the race, did it affect his behavior toward his little brother? If so, explain how. (Use complete sentences)

On the three lines provided after the question, Lily had written one word—mad.

I knew from having read the story that technically, “mad” was the correct answer. But since the teacher had provided three blank lines after the question and had said, “use complete sentences,” Lily’s answer was inadequate. Reading through the rest of the test, I found that she’d answered all the questions just as sparingly as the first one.

I called Lily out onto the porch and we sat on the swing. Glimpsing the test in my hand, she quickly looked down at the porch floor.

“I found this test in your backpack,” I said as Lily continued to avoid my eyes. “I read the whole thing and you know what I think about it?”

Lily looked up at me and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get a word out I said, “I think this is the most efficiently answered test I’ve ever seen.”

Lily studied my expression.

I went on— “Seriously, Lily, if I were to try to answer these questions more efficiently than you did, I couldn’t do it. You managed to answer them all correctly using only one or two words at the most. No punctuation or anything. That’s impressive.”

Lily very hesitantly smiled a small, still-worried smile. 

“If your teacher had been grading based on efficiency she would have given you a perfect score, but clearly she doesn’t grade that way. And because your answers were so short, she may have thought you didn’t read the story. I know that you did though, and can see that you answered all the questions correctly. From now on, I’d like you to fill up all the lines with complete sentences so that your teacher will know you did read the story and understood it. Will you please do that?”

Lily said she would. 

As she headed back into the house I called out after her, “Lily, you really were very efficient!”

I know that’s a peculiar way to respond to a lazy test-taker, but I was pretty sure my daughter needed some encouraging words right away and efficiency was all I could come up with. But you know what happened after that? Her work improved drastically. Isn’t that funny?

Have you ever been in that spot? Where you’re so beaten down about your poor performance that you lose the will to try. I’ve been there before. Sometimes you need to search for something good to say to yourself—something true, even if it’s really small or seems beside the point— and call that good thing out. And then, get back to work!

~Amy