Exams and Examinations

Today was the final exam in Romans class. As I read through the responses on some of the short answer questions I was forced to pause and examine my own motives for asking the questions.  What is important for students to recall when they study biblical works such as Romans? Is it enough just to "learn the lingo" that is being used or should they learn more?  How much time do I spend in class emphasizing that it is the context in which the lingo gets used that is more important than just words?  How do I help students get beyond the simple and into the serious issues?

The main problem is training.  As individuals, the psychologists discuss the effects of training on humans. While we are not Pavlov's dogs that salivate at the ringing of the bell and we can perhaps distinguish actions more than Sandy who goes wild whenever the trash can is moved since it frequently means getting fed, are we immune to unconscious training? If we get teaching week after week, month after month, year after year that does nothing but try to remove words from their original context and explicate their meaning based on some dictionary definition, how long does it take for us to begin to act differently when given the option of thinking within context?

So exams examine more than the examinee, they also examine the examiner's examination of the examined material!