One more of those 'they-say-thing' which we are so well-known for. No UPSR and PMR... actually, I think that's rather good. The chase for A(s) has actually dumbed down our children down a lot. The goal of primary schooling for many now is the number of A(s) in UPSR, thus taking the joy out of learning for our young. I was teaching a friend's son about black holes the other day... just for the fun of it. Even though he found it fun, he asked me why did he need to learn about them. It wasn't in his exam syllabus. That's how it's like for many kids now. If it's not coming out in the exam, no need to know.
So, is it good? To abolish the exams? A couple of things crossed my mind. If there are no exams, what then will be the impetus for our children to learn? School based assessments? I doubt its ability to really gauge. School exams? I think the competition to enter some of the well-known schools will open school exams to abuses.
Then the teaching quality. Are our teachers up to mark to inspire our kids and make learning fun? At secondary level, I'm seeing more incompetent teachers, not just because of their attitude (or the lack of it) but their competencies many areas are also suspect.
Internal assessments... the mechanisms are in place. It can actually work if we get the right people, do it the right way, practise integrity... but like everything in Bolehland now, many things we boleh, but we bocor in practically every area.
However, I would probably give a soft 'yay' to no exams. But we have to look into the quality of teachers, textbooks and materials. It does no good for us to lock our children down into a confined type of learning with no other goals except to score A(s). Kids must want to learn because they find it fun.... and useful.... etc, etc... Then perhaps the dumbing down of our children might be lessened....
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Yay, why not? Children innately yearn to learn, they learnt to walk and talk in 2 years, most. Therefore higher learning should not just be for passing exams but for the love of learning. Charlotte Mason said education is the science of relationships between student and God, fellow man and the world around us. She did away with exams in her school more than a hundred years ago. I really dislike rewards for reading books (points, stickers etc...they have it over here), reading a good book should be the reward in itself. We just watched a Wrinkle in time, the movie... I am amazed how much my son remembers from the book. But I am the product of 23 years of studying for exams and he's not :).
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