| From: | Alan Buxey |
| Date: | 22 Aug 2000 at 15:26:42 |
| Subject: | Re: OT GCSE Results |
hi,
> I agree with that, but over the past ten years the world has become a very
> different place and surely therefore exams and education in general needs
ack. the world has moved in large jumps since 1790, however, education, in
the method it is taught, has practically remained unchanged. The only new
devices in classrooms being projectors (i wont count whiteboards, they're
just nifty blackboards), calculators and biro pens ;-)
> listed as one of Europe's Dumbest countries. Also in this country there
> is too much emphasis on making sure that pupils have to suffer certain
> subjects including Art and RELIGION. Why should pupils be forced to put
> up with things like this. To broaden the mind? Hey TV might do this.
TV is a passive medium, it never broadens the mind, only narrows it. you'll
find the most broadminded people are ones who get out into the real world
themselves, experience things themselves and read books :-)
computers *can* broaden the mind..but only through the user having to choose
the experience that they want from the media
> Okay can you provide us with some examples.
ask MEB, SEG, NEG etc for papers ;-)
> Probably true, but that is probably down to the teachers as well as the
> exam boards. In my geography classes, we were always taught *a lot* more
> than we needed for the exam. In other subjects we just stuck to the
> syllabus defined by the examining board.
its always best to be taught more. you say your geography lessons were
stuffy... perhaps because no feedback was around, teacher thought you were
soaking it all up and so went into more than just glacial u-valleys,
meanders, new-towns and long-shore drift ;-)
> The biggest problem with maths papers is that you are often taught the
> biggest load of b*ll**ks ever. You get taught things that are of no
> relevance to anything it seems. What is the point. I still have not used
> much of the maths I learned at GCSE.
hardly anyone needs to know trigonometry, theories, complex maths. but these
enhance the individual persons skills of logic, puzzle solving and deduction.
I cant stand to go in a shop where someone behind the till cannot add up 82p
+ 43p without using a till!
> Exams are tricky things though. I hate them and love coursework. Other
> people prefer exams to couresework. I can produce A grade quality
> coursework for many subjects, but will not be able to match it in the
> exam. The fact is this same talking point of exams comes up every year
what is needed is a sliding scale...one where either the students can decide
which part to weight themselves (perhaps near the end of their coursework,
so they have chance to move if the projet goes badly) or one which takes
both results and weighs them compared to previous tests/coursework/assesment.
whats Amiga got to do with this? well, an ARexx script could do this work ;-)
alan
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