Saturday, August 25, 2007

How adult are you?

I am 92% adult

Love 89%
Sex 89%
Leadership 89%
Problem Solving 100%
Physical Abilities 44%
Verbal & Math Skills 100%
Interpersonal Skills 100%
Handling Responsibility 100%
Managing High Risk Behaviors 100%
Managing Work & Money 100%
Education 89%
Personal Care 100%
Self Management 89%
Citizenship 89%


Then I fiddled with the questions to see where I lost points.

I lost points on love because I agreed that true love lasts forever. I think we're quibbling over semantics here because part of my definition of true love is that it lasts forever. (I suppose we could also quibble over the definition of the word "lasts".)

I lost points on sex because I said a woman can get pregnant at any point in her menstual cycle. While I know that you can only get pregnant while ovulating, I was taking it as a given that you can't necessarily tell if you're ovulating, and therefore protection is required throughout your cycle. I think perhaps they're thinking from a trying-to-conceive perspective rather than a childfree perspective.

I lost points on leadership because I suck at negotiating.

I lost points on physical ability because my body is crap. (Although I do find myself questioning what that category is doing here - if you're deaf or paralyzed, you're still an adult).

I lost points on education because I disagreed that higher grades pay off with more salary and opportunities. I answered this way because it reflects my experience - people care about my credentials, not my grades. However, this might also be because when I think "high grades", I think getting 95% as opposed to 85%, while they might be thinking getting 85% as opposed to 49%.

I lost points on self-management because I don't keep a to-do list. Because I don't need one - I can remember stuff.

I lost points on citizenship because I didn't know you need a college degree to be an officer in the military. As this is an American quiz and I'm a Canadian pacifist, I don't consider this a liability.

I also found some of the questions weren't clear about how much ability they wanted from you. Can I strike up a conversation with someone? If there is something that needs to be talked about, of course! If we're in an elevator together for 2 minutes, sure! But if I'm seated next to a stranger for 2 hours, there are going to be awkward silences.

Another of the questions was something like if you couldn't take care of yourself, would you know where to go for help? Well, I'd know where to go for a referral - I'd call my family doctor (I don't know why I call her that when I'm the only one in the family she's a doctor for) or Telehealth, but I wouldn't know what the next step is.

The question on whether you can be spiritual without being part of an organized religion I answered entirely based on hearsay, since I seem congenitally incapable of spiritually. I don't know whether they expect me to know firsthand, but I don't.

Also, two of the questions are do you know how to write a cheque, and do you know how to write and send a letter. I think these are quickly becoming obsoleted. If you're, say, 11 years old today and for some reason you don't know how to write a cheque or mail a letter, that may not prove a liability by the time you reach adulthood.

3 comments:

laura k said...

How interesting that you believe true love lasts forever. That would mean, I suppose, that love that eventually ends was not true love?

I personally don't believe anything lasts forever. Everything changes, including even the most truest of love.

I haven't taken this quiz yet, perhaps I will.

laura k said...

I scored 90%, 2% less than you.

On most things I scored 100% or close to it, but I lost points for poor physical condition (56% - but how does tiring easily or not being flexible make me less of an adult???) and education (78% - because I know that good grades and higher education often have no impact on your working life).

What is their hang-up with drugs and alcohol??

impudent strumpet said...

How interesting that you believe true love lasts forever. That would mean, I suppose, that love that eventually ends was not true love?

Semantically, I figured that's what the "true" was doing there. Although now that I think about it, you could also parse it as "really, it actually is in fact love!" And you could also parse "lasts" unidirectionally or bidirectionally.

That's the problem with these two-choice quizzes. There's no room for nuance and you can't ask the author what they meant. On the education questions I was going with statistics when I had them, but I didn't actually know if they meant "in general and statistically" or "absolutely in every case."