Did They Ever Test Da Vinci? Poem by Jim Yerman

It’s testing time in school and teachers know...there’s nothing more important than that!
Florida has it’s own Comprehensive Assessment Test...known as the dreaded F-CAT.

Someone should admonish the test creators in Florida, (though I’ve no doubt their ears would be deaf.)
For administering a test to our children that already starts with an ‘F’!

Testers and test takers when you feel stressed today, please before this day is done.
Remember it’s also Leonardo Da Vinci’s birthday so whatever you do...have some fun.

Because you’ll never do more than he did...into the Renaissance he helped us propel.
He not only did so many things all at once...he did all of them so very well.

First of all he was an artist extraordinaire...this is one fact, I’m sure, we all knew.
One gaze on The Last Supper or Mona Lisa will reveal this to be true.

But he was also a sculptor and a mathematician, he understood our biosphere
He was writer, an architect, an inventor, a scholar and an engineer.

When he wasn’t busy painting or sculpting, do you know what he did in between?
He studied anatomy, wrote forwards and backwards and devised a flying machine.

He designed buildings and bridges and parachutes...his mind was one truly blessed
He did all these things and much more I’m quite sure...without benefit of an assessment test!

Do the best that you can but don’t worry, sometimes in life you fall flat...
Look at all Leonardo accomplished...and he never once had to take an F-CAT.

So here’s my suggestion if you think you’re going to blow...if you’re feeling a little bit flinchy...
Take a deep breath, exhale, smile...and remember Leonardo Da Vinci.

He’d be the first to tell you not to worry about a silly named test like F-CAT
He’d remind you a test is just questions and answers...and you’re so much more important than that!