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Examinations have been a part of the education system for
centuries, and they continue to be an integral part of the education process.
While they are often viewed as a necessary evil, they serve an important purpose
in determining a student's academic abilities and preparing them for future
success.
From a young age, students are committed to the examination system, from the age
of 9 or 10, until their early 20s if university or technical college training is
included. Examinations are a series of hurdles to be jumped until the weary
student finally reaches the winning post - a job. While nobody likes them,
nobody can suggest a reasonable substitute for them.
There are two kinds of examinations; private ones held in school or college and
public ones such as school entrance, School Certificate, Higher School
Certificate, and University examinations such as B.A., B.S.c., B. Lit, L.L.B,
and others. The objectives of these exams may vary. Private exams are intended
to show whether a student has worked well during a term, while public exams are
designed as steppingstones to more advanced fields of education until the degree
level is reached. These exams are very important in determining the kind of job
a student can get in the competitive world and indicating what kind of further
education suits their particular talents.
While some students may view exams as an endless vista of study or an
intellectual rat race, there must be some way of indicating that one student has
reached a required level when another has failed. The fact that public
examinations, both oral and written, were held as long ago as in Greek and Roman
times shows the necessity for this. Examinations are held in every civilized
country in the world.
There are two schools of thought on whether examinations are the best way to
differentiate students. In Britain, the most debated examination is the "11+."
If a child fails at this age, they are debarred from the grammar school or
stream and, in effect, from academic life. Some local authorities have dropped
the examination altogether at this stage and award places on termly work and
primary teachers' recommendations. But here again, some have to fail, and there
is always some suspicion of favoritism or unfairness.
The answer to whether an examination is a fair test of ability is generally
"yes." There are, of course, children and young people whose minds "go blank" in
the examination room and those who suffer from nerves or whose technique is bad
and then fail to do themselves justice. But too often, talk of exam nerves is a
cloak for laziness or ignorance. By the middle teens, a child ought to make a
fair showing, and at more tender ages, the candidate is given every chance,
including an intelligence test beforehand.
Examiners are never out to catch the student; indeed, enormous efforts are made
to offer a wide selection of fair questions covering the whole range of work the
student may be expected to have done. The student who says "I had a bad paper"
really means "I only covered part of the work and was unlucky!" With hard and
intelligent work, any normal student may expect to pass their examination.
In conclusion, examinations need not be feared. They serve a crucial purpose in
determining a student's academic abilities and preparing them for future
success. While some may view them as a necessary evil, they can even be enjoyed,
if only in retrospect. |
