Topical Guide 119
Mark Dorset
Intelligence, Assessing
Matthew and I were put through a series of intelligence tests. For three mornings, we sat in a tiny room near the administrative office, alone, at two desks set as far apart from each other as the room would allow, with the door of the room open so that the principal’s secretary could keep an eye on us.
Little Follies, “The Fox and the Clam”
At lunch time we would compare our answers and speculate about whether we had done well enough to meet the standards required of a student in the fourth grade.
Little Follies, “The Fox and the Clam”
Personality Characteristics and Emotional Stability, Assessing
When the intelligence tests were over, we were put through a psychological test. … When Matthew was finished, he was whisked away by Mrs. Torelli before I was summoned. … I spent a while looking at pictures on cards and describing them for Mr. Grundtvig.
Little Follies, “The Fox and the Clam”
The ten inkblots in the original Rorschach test (Wikipedia):
Rowboat, Drifting in, as Metaphor for Existential Crisis
“Well, good. This is a storytelling game.” He picked up a booklet and leafed through it. “I’ll read the beginning of a story, and you finish it for me, all right?”
“All right,” I said.
“Here we go,” said Mr. Grundtvig. “One day a man, in the middle of his life, no longer young, decided that it would be nice to row a boat across a bay. He hadn’t rowed a boat in some time. When he got to the very middle of the bay, he was very tired. His hands were sore. His arms were aching. Sweat ran into his eyes. He looked around. The water was murky and gray. The man was as far from where he had started out as he was from where he wanted to go. He didn’t know what to do.”
Mr. Grundtvig closed the booklet and looked at me. “Well, Peter,” he said, “what do you think will happen next?”Little Follies, “The Fox and the Clam”
[more to come on Thursday, October 28, 2021]
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