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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 June 2000 Issue No. 484 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 June 2000 Issue No. 484
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Trying times
By Said Ismail Ali *
Exams are an ordeal, a "day of judgement" by any standards; yet this is just what education experts tell us exams are not. For educators, examinations are meant to explore students' strong points, so that the educational institution may consolidate them, and to discover their weak points so as to work on their causes in the curriculum, the teacher, the textbook, the pattern of questions posed or the methods of teaching. Unfortunately, however, we continue to focus on how much of the textbook the student has memorised.
After over 40 years of experience teaching and studying the learning process, I can say with confidence that our exam system is most abusive. Exams are based on a concept that conflicts with our efforts to raise children with healthy personalities. Instead of being a tool that helps us assess the educational process exams have become an end in themselves, for which the processes of learning and teaching are tailored. The media and the country's families work themselves into a frenzy of fear over those trying exam days.
Aged six, my granddaughter, who is in her first year of primary school, has already lived through the dreaded experience of a traditional examination. Her parents warned her to abandon her toys, children's TV programmes and other pleasant occupations and to focus on her studies. At the exam, she found herself in a strange environment, not the classroom she is used to. The teacher monitoring the exam was not her teacher, but a stranger. In such a situation, a child is alienated and terrified.
We urgently need to reassess the concept and practice of examinations in our academic system. An examination must not be an intimidating experience. If we do not carry out reform soon, the only thing we will have succeeded in is producing a frustrated generation.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is an expert in educational psychology.
