Our entire (public) school district is using this “VIA Survey” to help students discover their character strengths. I took the “adult” version of the survey, and I was appalled at many of the questions. Many I felt were leading me in the way the survey wanted me to think. Many were downright disturbing.
For each question you answer either Very Much Like Me, Like Me, Unlike Me, Very Much Unlike Me.
Examples of questions I feel are leading or at a minimum - poorly phrased:
I do not act as if I am a special person.
My beliefs make my life important.
People describe me as full of zest.
I always keep straight right from wrong.
I love to make other people happy.
Questions I feel are promoting “group think” - for me created images of Jonestown. (and remember, this is the adult survey)
As a Leader, I try to make all group members happy.
Even if I disagree with them, I always respect the leaders of my group.
It is important to me to respect decisions made by my group.
I gladly sacrifice my self- interest for the benefit of the group I am in.
These are just examples of the ones I thought were awful. There were more.
The students all took a survey, then they will spend an entire day focusing on students top five and bottom five character traits.
My strengths came out completely wrong (with “zest” as one of my top 5, and “teamwork” at the very bottom) based on the way I viewed these awful questions.
Anyone willing to comment or even to go to the VIA Survey and take one, and then share your opinion?
First of all, I want you to know that I haven’t researched any of what I’m going to post myself so I don’t know that it’s true but I’ve read a lot about it on education social media sites.
Apparently, the new ESSA reauthorization contains a lot of requirements for social and emotional learning (SEL).
Businesses are driving the Common Core State Standards and our education policy and they want good little workers. SEL gives them those workers. Of course, all the people who are making education policy decisions using their charitable foundation funds (Gates Foundation is one example) send their kids to private schools that actually teach their students to think critically.
Thank you for your input. I can see in a lot of things that our public school district is responding to changing policy. And doing so in the best way they can - trial and error - with the dollars they have - often presenting the same program to all age levels.
Your response does help me to see the bigger picture and reminds me that it is a public school.
I wondered why they would not use a system like Myers- Briggs that has a long-standing track record and proven value. It likely comes down to dollars and the fact that this system is not designed for elementary age students - it is likely designed for young adults.
That’s funny you mention private schools, because the one we had our kids in when they were in kindergarten didn’t want to let my younger one in because she was “too dominant and not cooperative enough”. Funny because they weren’t looking for strong, individual thinkers at an expensive, “prestigious” private school, and funny because compared to her older sister (who was already in) she’s the soul of accommodating kindness, lol.
These tests are all ridiculous, and any kid with a three digit IQ knows how to answer them to get the answer the testers are looking for. I think there are kids who are wired to be “good little workers”, and those kids are valuable and important. But there are also kids wired to test and challenge systems, and I don’t particularly think this test is going to derail them.
The VIA character strengths are related to the work of Positive Psychology father Martin Seligman.
You can take an online assessment for free to get your character strengths. I found the results for me to be pretty accurate. http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Positive-Psychology
Seligman does amazing work. I recommend reading his book Flourish.
It is important for people to recognize their strengths so they can choose work and roles in life that allow them to shine and deliver the highest possible value in all situations, giving them more confidence in whatever they approach.
@HRSMom, I agree with you - which is why I posted. I wanted to make sure I was not overthinking this. Mostly, I
want to go to the administrators and ask them if THEY took the time to take the survey.
I read some the the “teamwork” questions to my H who leads large teams in his work, he was pretty appalled.
@helpingteens, maybe you use this survey in your work with some success. I did not take the “teen” version - which may be part of the problem. It is set up for ages 10 -17. So it has to be pretty basic, and therefore somewhat useless for the high school age students.
The questions I quoted from the Adult version of the survey need some work. It made me downright angry.
Yes, the world needs worker bees, but no one ever wants to call themselves one:(
And way too many people in the workplace hide behind “teamwork” to avoid accountability. Let’s all hold hands and discuss it into infinity. Then they can’t blame anyone bc no one made a decision, right? And heaven forbid you just go around it and get it done, bc then you are not a team player and are trying to be a rockstar
Surveys that discern “character strengths” in teenagers can become a self-fulfilling prophecy by shaping someone’s attitude towards various challenges.
That’s when they’re accurate. This irredeemable procrastinator once had to fill in a similar survey and the result suggested I had top 0.1% study habits. HA!
That’s because somehow it’s become a pejorative thing to be industrious, and that really stinks. Bees do amazing things! There may be great ideas out there, but getting them implemented is just as important. When the kids (or I, or my husband) is working on a group project we look at it as being a part of something bigger than ourselves, that has the potential to be good.
yeah, you get the slackers in every group, but there are ways to hold them accountable. Sometimes they think they’re the chief, but really, they’re just lazy.
@NotVerySmart has a good point, in that if you give these results to someone at too young of an age, they are liable to totally believe in the results (to the point where they becoming self-fulfilling), instead of using the results as a tool for understanding yourself better. I hadn’t considered this angle. Thanks.
@lots2do I can respect why you would be uncomfortable with the questions. The questions aren’t intended to be subtle or polite. The questions are designed to probe and to size you up, which in many parts of the world is the very definition of “rude.” I didn’t have that reaction because I was in the process of reading Seligman’s book and I was curious to find out the results because it felt important to know the honest answer about myself.