Not College Material

That Little Voice

“She’s not college material,” the psychologist proclaimed just because I didn’t know the difference between fresh mint and weeds.

I was all of 16, marginally comfortable with myself, hearing results of tests my sister and I were forced to take to learn whether we were going to be adequate adults.

Sis passed with flying colors, was determined to be a genius in disguise, while I was described as ‘all front,’‘boy crazy,’and less than capable of make a lasting impression on the status of the world.

Mother scoffed at this analysis, assuring me I had good common sense, and not convinced Paula would ever be more than a kindergarten teacher.

Of course, neither of us had ever anticipated being a candidate for world leadership, so this test result was dismissed as ‘okay, so what’?

The ‘not college material’ assessment was a blow, since we had been raised with the mantra my two sisters and I would go to college, become successful in whatever field we chose, not be dependent on a man, and get far away from the small town of our childhood.

Thus, if I was destined to not receive a diploma from even a junior college, what then would I do? Mother tossed the good therapist’s testing abilities to the side and kept her previous beliefs… I was capable, and Paula would teach young children how to color.

There may have been other factors the doctor had used in making her decision about our individual talents. I recall one question asked if I would rather build a railroad or feed pigs.

To understand my answer, one must realize I inherited a gene of laziness so neither one of these choices was exactly inviting. After brief consideration I chose hog feeding, thinking if I had to do either, I would be hungry and at least pigs were usually fed while I wasn’t certain about railroad builders.

This made perfect and rational sense to me, however to the more educated grader it did not elevate my IQ.

Part of the testing procedure was for each of us to draw pictures of a house, a tree, a man, and a woman. My house picture filled the entire page, deeming me ‘all front,’ the tree I drew looked exactly like the one I learned to draw in my first grade class, even with red apples in the midst of the green leaves.

I did add a bit of inspiration to the tree trunk: a heart with my initials plus another set of initials below. This addition cried out ‘boy crazy,’ along with the fact I drew the man first.

You may be asking what not knowing the difference between fresh mint and weeds has to do with my college capabilities, and here is the background.

The weekend before this testing began, we had met the professional who administered the tests. She and my sister were in the backyard of a relative’s home engaged in a conversation about the type of flowers and plants in the garden when I stepped outside to find some mint to put into the tea.

I had never heard of putting mint in tea, and I had no idea what mint looked like, nor why we would use it in tea.

As I stood nearby the two garden viewers, inquiring about where to find the mint, the test giver looked around and stated, rather pointedly, “you are standing in it.”

Thus, my college future was determined unacceptable, at least to her. Apparently, she thought college bound students must know about mint, and I didn’t pass that test.

Thank goodness mint was not part of college entrance exam I took, so I was able to graduate from a four-year university in three years. Not bad for a non-mint tea drinker.