Hi Richard: You're right, we are being "evaluated" all the time in one way or another. Academically, our society demands that some sort of objective measure that provides for standardized testing practices is in place to prevent lawsuits that could claim discrinimation or unfair practices. That's too bad, but it's a reality. For me, the basic reason for evaluations is to determine to what degree a student has learned. I suppose a secondary reason would be to measure my successfulness in teaching, or measure the effectiveness of the curriculum, ass all of these occur when we do assessments. Regards, Barry