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You are Chris Wong, a member of the school Debating Club. A few days ago, you went to a debate competition where the debate motion was" Tests and exams are a barrier to learning".You were impressed by argument presented by both sides. Write an essay discussing the pros and cons of having test and exams in education.



Standardized test, good in some ways, bad in others





There is no doubt that the dominant culture of education has come to focus on not teaching and learning, but testing. Examination has a place in education, particularly in Hong Kong. However, some academics have come across a saying of " Tests and exams are a barrier to learning ". In this following point, this essay aims to examine its pros and cons objectively.

First of all, It is easy to see the clear and obvious benefits from having tests and examinations. Standardized test has its function to assess the student's academic performances so that any school, including universities, secondary schools and even kindergartens, adopts this measure to collect students. As a result, testing is a way to get into schools, because it is the most fair and objective method to evaluate their performances. As regards educators, they could have a greater guidance to teach their students in terms of standardized teaching contents and materials.

Moreover, examination is a  diagnostic measure, which is the core value of examination. Each student has their own problems for study but it is very case-by-case. Nevertheless, testing provides the teachers to realize and discover their problems for study immediately and therefore significantly improve their academic performances in the long run; for instance, Finland comes out on top in mathematics, science and physics. Finland's education regards testing as diagnostic measure, which is to seek their student's problems for study and help them break through the difficulties. Yet, assessment should be a diagnostic functions rather than a competition.

Besides benefits, the overvaluation of testing has its drawbacks. The essential objective of education is to get people to learn. Children are naturally gravitating towards knowledge. However, standardized testing sometimes obstructs their natural instinct to learn. The school nowadays emphasize the importance of testing too much. It unfairly marginalizes some bright students, who perform badly in examinations. They would be labelled as disqualified students. What is more worrying is that they cannot find pleasures and interests in study. Consequently, they are deterred from pursuing knowledge.

Furthermore, examination causes superficial and linear thinking. Model answer is the most characteristic feature in examinations and tests. If students fail to fill in so called 'correct answer' , they cannot get the great result in examinations. However, human beings are naturally different and diverse; hence flourishing. students have different talents and abilities so education should not treat them on a standard scale. Additionally, some of the capacities could not be held in standard scale such as capacity for creation, capacity for dance, moral learning, etc. The standardized tests cannot evaluate such abilities so that Arts should not have any test.

I wish to conclude by reiterating that examination has a place in education. It should not be the essential element of education, but incidental, which should be a diagnostic measure to stimulate learning.









[ 本帖最後由 feifeifeifei 於 2014-12-10 07:35 AM 編輯 ]

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