Are exams worth the stress?

Last week, my journos and I had a somewhat heated conversation about exams.

Journalist Adele Bloem’s two daughters had just finished their second-term exams and she was expressing her dismay at what the exams are doing to them as a family.

But they are not the only ones. So many families have to go through this every year. As she shared her frustration, it got me thinking. Why is the Department of Education so set on drawing up exam papers to try and fail a learner? Why do they not rather establish what knowledge and understanding the child has of the subject? This will ensure that learners go through less stress, and don’t feel like failures or stupid because they can’t make the grade.

The biggest frustration was maths. You need maths if you want to study further, but it is so ridiculously difficult, it is not worth the stress the learners have to go through.

When my daughters were still at school, they would often ask me for help, especially with maths. I put my blinkers on, and pretended not to hear them. Maths was never my strong suit.

To top things off, we have just been informed that the pass mark for certain subjects is going to drop – again.

That would mean that a matric certificate is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Do you agree? What are your thoughts? Let me know. Send an email to roelienv@caxton.co.za.

Until next week, stay warm and make sure others are warm as well.

Ciao