Assess Quote by Peter Høeg
““When you assess something, you are forced to assume that a linear scale of values can be applied to it. Otherwise no assessment is possible. Every person who says of something that it is good or bad or a bit better than yesterday is declaring that a points system exists; that you can, in a reasonably clear and obvious fashion, set some sort of a number against an achievement. But never at any time has a code of practice been laid down for the awarding of points. No offense intended to anyone. Never at any time in the history of the world has anyone—for anything ever so slightly more complicated than the straightforward play of a ball or a 400-meter race—been able to come up with a code of practice that could be learned and followed by several different people, in such a way that they would all arrive at the same mark. Never at any time have they been able to agree on a method for determining when one drawing, one meal, one sentence, one insult, the picking of one lock, one blow, one patriotic song, one Danish essay, one playground, one frog, or one interview is good or bad or better or worse than another.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, Peter Høeg, 1992
Assessments rely on imposing a linear scale, yet no universal code exists to consistently rate complex phenomena.
In simple terms: We try to rank everything, but no shared system works for all.
Recognize limits of scoring complex things.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- education grading
- performance reviews
- art criticism
- personal decisions
- policy making
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we fairly compare diverse experiences?
- What alternatives exist to numeric ratings?
Scoring can oversimplify nuance and ignore context.