Examinations exert a pernicious influence on education
Uploaded by ojm99 on Feb 02, 2002
Let us begin the discussion by defining the limits of the three keywords, examinations, pernicious and education, in the above statement.
Examination is a form/means of testing a person’s ability to perform in a particular subject which may be academic or non-academic. Pernicious means something which is harmful or has harmful effects. Education is anything a person learns from the time he is born to the time he dies. This includes all academic and non-academic subjects which may be good or bad. Having defined the keywords, the bases of the argument has been formed and now let us start by discussing the pros of the topic.
The student appearing for the exam takes it under extreme tension and pressure because he knows that he has only one chance to prove his worth and if he fails, he will be left behind for the rest of his life. Of course he can re-take the exam after a period of a year or so but since he had failed it once, it wouldn’t be the same. His momentum of studying would have been broken and his failure would serve as a discouraging factor. As a result he would probably show a worse performance the second time and end up losing a year.
The other point in favour of the topic is that the student may be good at the subject itself but may not be a good examinee because he may not be able to attempt fully the question in the set time period. This may not give a chance to the student to express fully and in a comprehensive manner, his opinions and views. Take the example of this essay. If I were given this essay in the examination, I may not be able to explain each and every point properly because of the limited time I would have been allotted.
Let us now make an assumption that the student is able to finish the question in the allotted time. However, his handwriting is difficult to understand and his paper is filled with scribblings towards the end. The student has no knowledge of the examiner nor of his mood/state of mind at the time of checking.
So, what happens if the examiner is in a frustrated mood? First of all, his temper grows as he stares at the untidy paper lying in front of him. Then he takes a deep breath and starts reading...