Once again we are into exam season, and once again we have the flurry of stories of questions that can't be answered, the tears that flow, and the end of the world that is ensuing.
For comfort, the same number of stories are floating about the place currently in Australia.
For context, the last time I did exams these tears and high drama were nowhere to be seen.
So what has happened? Is it possible the way we study has changed?
Is it possible all the mocks that are taken lead you into an area of confusion, whereby unless the real exam looks remarkably similar to the ones you have just practiced on, you freak out?
Is it possible because of the way we teach, it's too rote? In other words, you can parrot back what has been taught but you can't extrapolate out?
Is it also possible that exams and entry to university has become such a big deal that the whole of the future of your life is flashing in front of your eyes, and unless it appears to have gone well you have no future?
Perhaps my advantage was that I wasn’t going to university. I was out into the world to get on with it.
What I needed was University Entrance, preferably endorsed, and that would give me, at the very least, a foot in the door to a job.
Yes, exams seemed hard. Yes, a lot of people were nervous.
Yes, a lot of people after the exam, as we wandered off home, either ran the line that it was a nightmare and they don’t stand a chance, or that it was so easy they couldn’t believe their luck. And we ran those lines no matter what had actually just happened.
We were full of it.
But what we didn’t do was melt down, the media didn’t cover the fallout, and we had no headlines. We were simply kids doing exams and sometimes they went well and sometimes they didn’t.
I wish I knew then what I know now – that school is but a fleeting moment in time that will seem increasingly irrelevant. Although it's your whole world, or at least a decent chunk of it, when you are a kid, ultimately it will all be put into perspective.
Life and its success is rarely, if ever, defined by what you did in year 12 or 13.
Maybe we could teach more of that.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
So what has happened? Is it possible the way we study has changed?
Is it possible all the mocks that are taken lead you into an area of confusion, whereby unless the real exam looks remarkably similar to the ones you have just practiced on, you freak out?
Is it possible because of the way we teach, it's too rote? In other words, you can parrot back what has been taught but you can't extrapolate out?
Is it also possible that exams and entry to university has become such a big deal that the whole of the future of your life is flashing in front of your eyes, and unless it appears to have gone well you have no future?
Perhaps my advantage was that I wasn’t going to university. I was out into the world to get on with it.
What I needed was University Entrance, preferably endorsed, and that would give me, at the very least, a foot in the door to a job.
Yes, exams seemed hard. Yes, a lot of people were nervous.
Yes, a lot of people after the exam, as we wandered off home, either ran the line that it was a nightmare and they don’t stand a chance, or that it was so easy they couldn’t believe their luck. And we ran those lines no matter what had actually just happened.
We were full of it.
But what we didn’t do was melt down, the media didn’t cover the fallout, and we had no headlines. We were simply kids doing exams and sometimes they went well and sometimes they didn’t.
I wish I knew then what I know now – that school is but a fleeting moment in time that will seem increasingly irrelevant. Although it's your whole world, or at least a decent chunk of it, when you are a kid, ultimately it will all be put into perspective.
Life and its success is rarely, if ever, defined by what you did in year 12 or 13.
Maybe we could teach more of that.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
4 comments:
The important thing about a traditional exam is that the candidate has to do it all by him/herself without any inputs from anyone else. So we know exactly what s/he knows and doesn't know. That is a strength which no coursework assessment system can match.
One way of increasing pass rates for members of fashionable groups is to assess group work and reward all group members as though they had contributed equally. This is a disincentive to very high and very low ability to pull finger and work - there's nothing in it for the former and the latter is a non-fee-paying passenger from the start.
The big external exams - e.g. the Baccalaureat, the A-Levels - are life milestones. Like everything worthwhile, they take a bit of effort and mayinflict some pain and anguish, but it's all part of growing up and entering the adult world prepared to work for one's own improvement rather than holding out one's hand and saying "You owe me, gimme gimme."
I was taught at school that A is both A, and not not A, and where did that get me? Sure, it stood me in good stead and prepared me for learning something new every day since. Due to early ill health, I never thought that I would see 40 but have learnt to love every day and get all hate out of my heart. I am now approaching my 90s.
Kevan
I agree with Barend., exams are essential for assessing academic achievement.
Unfortunately progressivism in education has always been anti -testing or in fact assessments of any sort. School work at primary school level is seldom marked and there is little correction of work. The idea is schooling must be 'fun' which excludes competitiveness. Also a concept of wrongness is not compatible with post modern truth. Some children entering school have never heard the word "no "or "don't".. I think it is believed it may damage the wee 'flower's' self esteem. Instead the child is asked : "Do you think you have made the right choice?".
Tutoring children , I found they have real difficulty with their wrong answers and facing failure even in inconsequential tests; tears flowed easily,
Such sensitivity is not even common sense and cancelling exams is not the answer and the crazy psychology that contributes to producing this sensitivity needs reviewing, along with so much else that is wrong in our education.
Currently traveling, I have had the misfortune of being in the company of young people at close quarters of varying nationalities. Maybe the teaching of exams is not everything, but what seems missing too often these days is decent parenthood - where children show respect for elders and have an understanding of acceptable public behaviour. If they have no appreciation of these basics, it's far from surprising things like school attendance and achievement levels are declining and why things like the provision of lunches are now necessary. And we kid ourselves that society is improving?
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