In Defence of Examinations
WITH THE latest half-year exams either in progress or a recent memory, the start of the third term seems like a good time to consider what value exams add to the education process.
Many self-proclaimed progressives would like to see exams consigned to that over-full “dustbin of history”, along with rote learning, chalk-and-talk and overcrowded classrooms. Exams are no more, they say, than tests of the child’s memory and do nothing to promote critical thinking.
This is simply not true. Of course, it is possible to set an exam that is just a test of memory, and it is, of course, very easy to fall into that trap with a multiple-choice test, which has the added benefit for the educator that less effort is required in the marking of it. But that is just a bad exam.
What would happen if examinations were discarded?
If a history paper, for example, consists solely of questions such as “What was the date of the Battle of Gingindlovu?”, then that is, indeed, only a test of memory. But that could not be said of a paper that asked, “How did the Zulu victory at the Battle of Isandlwana affect the subsequent military career of Lord Chelmsford?” or “Discuss the reasons for the failure of the infantry square at Isandlwana”.
Rather than trying to remove examinations from the education curriculum, we should be trying to ensure that more time in the classroom is spent in discussing the subject in a manner that will leave the learners able to answer those questions that do require some critical thought.
Examinations are a good preparation for life after school
Let us consider for a moment what would happen if examinations were discarded. The situation would be the same as if we taught aspiring drivers (of motor cars) the rules of the road and then omitted the driving test, just accepting that everybody was proficient. There would be carnage on the roads in no time.
And examinations are themselves a good preparation for life after school. They demand that learners keep a cool head and develop coping mechanisms to deal with the almost inevitable fallout when the results are not exactly what the learner expected, or their parents demanded!
If this preparation for the hurly-burly of real life was the only benefit of exams, that would be a good enough reason to keep them: resilience in the face of a discouraging situation is a much overlooked and vastly under-appreciated quality.
The value of exams goes far beyond that, however. Not only do they test which learners have internalized the syllabus, they also show which educators have earned their salaries. Maybe that’s why some are so keen to wave them goodbye!