Are exams really a true test of knowledge and intellect or are they simply a means of testing ones memory? As a soon to be parent of two girls I find myself pondering this very question. Trust me when I say that I have been through this before, being a student myself and having been through my fair share of exams where the knowledge I once retained on the tip of my tongue seemed to have vanished. I do understand the need for exams as a means to test the children in a classroom, to see if they are retaining the information needed to further advance in education. To see what they know and what they don't if they have the common sense.
But i do not think that marks should be the true deciding factor of a child's intellect. As a child I too thought that marks determined how much you knew, how much you had learned and how well you were educated in what you truly needed to know. As I grew older my thirst for knowledge expanded. I started to learning things that could not be taugght in a book, things that were not written by the teacher. I find that there are many things which I learned at a young age that I have forgotten, things that were taught in school yet have no meaning to me anymore. The things I was able to learn outside of school I think that is more important, though I cannot show marks or points to prove this. During exam mcq have four choices and it asks you to choose one but in real life nothing is handed to us and a simple that what is the right choice.
As a father, I would not like it if my daughters see their worth in a number on a mark sheet. My children should know how to see the value in what they know that they have kept with them through all the years. They should genuinely learn, of course they should try to get some good marks in their exams but they must feel like doing it and not feel forced. But marks aren't everything they should understand that too. The most important thing in their life should be to gain knowledge.
I know it's stressful during exams and the feeling of learning for the sake of an exam. I understand that some students are so focused on getting that A+ that they memorize for the test only, after the exam they forget what they had studied. And I know that while this is a valid means to past an exam, it is not a valid means to hold any knowledge that could aid them in later years. I am strongly against the system which depicts the intelligence of our children by a single test paper. It sole can not decide the factor of a students capability in a certain field. I think every student have something they struggle with but in real they have a creative mind.
For I myself once was that student and now I am the father of two young girls, watching them walk the same road I once did.
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