My 12 year old son started his first ever Final Exams yesterday. He is in Grade 7 and was prepped and ready for his Language Arts essay exam. He knew it was running all day and went to school ready to write... He told me last night that the announcements before the exam were really annoying. A man (he did not recognize the voice as any teacher he knew) would get on the intercom system every 10 minutes for an hour before the exam, instructing the kids to make sure they use both sides of the paper because 'you have an OBLIGATION to protect the environment'. It annoyed my son because his bus is one of the first to arrive at the school and he had to listen to each and every mandate as other students arrived.
Then when the kids entered the exam room, they were told that for their Good Copy (final essay copy), they had to use only ONE side of the paper. How confusing is that? These are 12 year old kids, they listen every 10 minutes all morning to how they must use BOTH sides because they are OBLIGATED to protect the environment, and then they are told to use ONE side of the paper for their final copy. What if a child got confused and used both sides when he got to the end? I can't stand stuff like that. When I was in school they would tell us to use both sides of the paper to reduce waste, but one side for the final copy to keep it clean and neat. So we did. No one had to drum it into our heads that we were OBLIGATED to do it in order to protect the planet. Why is this kind of guilt put on young children and why is it deemed okay?
I hope your son has the same results on his provincial english exam as my son. English was always his lowest mark even though he worked hard. He and his friends were greatly rewarded with high marks. Some of my friends with daughters were shocked that some of the boys received higher marks .
ReplyDeleteMy son and his friends felt that the marking had been totally unbiased because the markers could not determine gender. Each student has a number on their paper instead of a name.
This gave them much needed confidence for future English exams.