On this day that used to be Children Day in Singapore, until it was redesignated to the first friday of Oct, I would like to rant a bit on putting these young children through examination.
I personally is not against examination. In fact, I have full support for people to continuously gain knowledge from a young age. A certain level of testing of ability is good.
The question here is the type of examination and I am going to mention specifically PSLE 12 years old (and there about) are required to sit. If it is purely to test on knowledge, on things that the children learned, things they should know, it is perfectly justifiable.
However, if you take a look the various questions set at preliminary examinations in schools and the sample questions sold in bookstores, you will realize it is not about testing their knowledge. Half the time, the questions are set with tricks for them to fall into. Do we need to teach them to be so cunning at such a young age?
I remember quite clearly in my university 1st year, my lecturer was very particular about our report writing standard. Rule number 1 was in a report, if you write 12 as numeric number, you are to follow that standard throughout. If you decided to write 12 as twelve, then same for the rest of the report. In the event that he sees 12, then three, he will hit the roof and the grade will reflect. This is basic report 101.
However, a simple Maths question of 3 lines will have a mixture of words and numeric to confuse the young child further.
I personally is not against examination. In fact, I have full support for people to continuously gain knowledge from a young age. A certain level of testing of ability is good.
The question here is the type of examination and I am going to mention specifically PSLE 12 years old (and there about) are required to sit. If it is purely to test on knowledge, on things that the children learned, things they should know, it is perfectly justifiable.
However, if you take a look the various questions set at preliminary examinations in schools and the sample questions sold in bookstores, you will realize it is not about testing their knowledge. Half the time, the questions are set with tricks for them to fall into. Do we need to teach them to be so cunning at such a young age?
I remember quite clearly in my university 1st year, my lecturer was very particular about our report writing standard. Rule number 1 was in a report, if you write 12 as numeric number, you are to follow that standard throughout. If you decided to write 12 as twelve, then same for the rest of the report. In the event that he sees 12, then three, he will hit the roof and the grade will reflect. This is basic report 101.
However, a simple Maths question of 3 lines will have a mixture of words and numeric to confuse the young child further.
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