This test screwed me up in first grade. I thought it was some kind of grammar test so I kept asking if it was a verb, a noun, or an adverb. The test giver was some researcher and was convinced I wasn't taking the test seriously because I wouldn't say wugs. He got kind of angry and I found the whole thing to be kind of distressing. I asked to stop and he just got even angrier and said something like, "No one has ever had trouble with the wug test before". I was convinced I was bad at grammar for years after that. Anyway, wugs! =)

[–] Stamau123@lemmy.world 35 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like somebody was bad at giving out tests

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 5 months ago

I mean, that could have been it, but it seemed like everyone else got through unscathed. I was older than average, I was 7 and the rest of the kids were 6. I think that was his explanation anyway.

[–] CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Based on the sentence construction it has to be a noun regardless of the meaning tho

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 5 months ago

It was awhile ago since I took the test. I definitely wasn't given this exact meme as a child though. I probably would have said wugs if I had been given this on a sheet of paper. I think the test was given verbally and he only busted out paper when I was struggling.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What a shite researcher. The whole point is to judge children's inferrence - that's why they don't use real words. There is no right answer. There's just an expected answer based on similar words.

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I wouldn't be too hard on him. I was a weird kid who grew up into a weird adult. I ended up doing lots of tests as a kid with him or researchers just like him. I did the test where you're told to electrocute a person if they answer a question wrong and they pretend to scream. And the test where they use a wire to knock over water bottles. I gave weird responses to those tests as well. I just started pressing the button for the electrocution and laughing. I apologized after. And when the water bottles got knocked over I just sat there and waited for him to come back. It occurred to me that I might get in trouble, but then I figured he would just take my word on it. I was like, "Your structure fell over!". These tests make for fun stories.

edit: With the electrocution test I definitely tried to reason with the researcher that electrocuting people wasn't scientific, but I very quickly realized he wasn't going to listen to me. I realized it was an opportunity to electrocute a person and that I was never getting another opportunity to do that ever, so I just went for it. Egg on my face when it turns out it's both not real and I'm a awful person. I did feel bad though.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

... do your parents happen to own any sort of lair? Does your dad's fashion sense involve insulated gloves and welding goggles? Because this is starting to sound like a therapy session for someone supervillain-adjacent.

'Grade school, am I right? The beep test, the Milgram experiment, pop quizzes, that prison thing, haha. I'm sure everyone gets those stress dreams where you haven't studied for your Voight-Kampf test.'

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

No, the elementary school I went to had this program called Learning Lab for K-3 grade. I didn't even tell my parents what was going on at the time because I assumed they just somehow knew everything that happened at school without me telling them.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Was your principle named Scudworth?

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

No, at the time the principle was a woman. She was one of the those career administrators who raises kids tests scores by any means necessary and then takes a better job in a larger town with a bigger school. The principle before that was a teacher who took the job because no one else wanted it.

I'm not sure who was in charge of Learning Lab. They mostly helped kids who needed to improve their academic performance, including myself. They used the same space as the researchers, I don't know how it was organized or where the researchers were from. Just that the pool of kids who were pulled out of class for Learning Lab was the same pool who interacted with any researchers. I don't know how many kids had the same experience as me. At least one, probably more.

edit: There was someone who was like a teacher, who was in charge in of the kids, and instruction. I'm not sure who that person reported to or who came up with the program. They were not my regular teacher for any given grade.

[–] GojuRyu@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This sounds a lot like my reaction to questions in the test i got for autism (except it was writtwn so i just scribbled these thoughts out).
I don’t know if you are on the spectrum, but it sounds like the test giver would have been horrible at administering it to children on the spectrum either way.

[–] ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 months ago

I took a lot of tests for autism as a kid because I would stand on my toes. All the specialists said I wasn't autistic. I got my hamstrings stretched and I stopped standing on my toes.