Exams come in many different forms - written or oral, graded or ungraded, about a chosen or a given topic, multiple choice (luckily we almost never had those) or giving your own answers, etc. Some are a meaningless waste of time, some may even be harmful, but I don't believe they are a bad thing in general. I also don't think they can't coexist with exploratory learning. In my opinion, a meaningful exam should enable the student to show an understanding of the matter rather than just show that xe has memorized a lot of facts (not that there's anything wrong with having to memorize stuff, but that shouldn't be all); the preparation should have relevance beyond the exam, i.e. you shouldn't have to learn a lot of stuff you'll never need again; and ideally, the way you have to present what you have learned should also be something which will be useful beyond the exam (e.g. learning how to do a presentation). If done right, I think exams can be motivating (procrastinators like me need some pressure to get things done), they will help people get more deeply into a subject, and they will help the teacher find out where the students stand and what they have difficulties with.
I would say that we need to do away with the schools first. Then the exams would have meaning. What is the point of having a good commie education when you can learn to not think on the internet just as easily as you can learn to not think setting in school picking yer nose for six hours a day?
Originally posted by Riddle2007Exams have an important and necessary place in education. However although "you don't fatten a pig by weighing it". Some type of tests are positive and some are destructive in their effect.
But that hasn't answered my question, should we abolish exam?
However as a Mathematics teacher the exam system in the UK is very harmful and one of the reasons we are falling further behind.
Exams are used to see how sucessful teachers and schools are. This means that teachers try to maximise results rather than improve core skills.
For example a prep or primary school target questions on KS2 that are easy to teach and get good exam marks. E.G. teaching what a Rhombus is and its properties, rather than long division. Consequently when I recieve 13 year old students from a British system, most cannot complete a simple multiplication grid within 7 minutes when a typical east asian student would do it in 1 minute.
A test can actually be a learning experience if properly structured. For example for my low ability pupils I have short multiple choice tests with normally only two answers. This way my pupils often get 50% which builds esteem and the slowly get to link technical terms with topics. E.g. Asking if a triangle is Isosceles or Equilateral.
Originally posted by StarValleyWy
I would say that we need to do away with the schools first. Then the exams would have meaning. What is the point of having a good commie education when you can learn to not think on the internet just as easily as you can learn to not think setting in school picking yer nose for six hours a day?