Right from the onset I have always been a proponent of open tests. Though the importance of writing exams has not been maxed out, I believe there is a difference between reading to write and pass exams and learning to understand and apply. In fact, one of the things I pinpointed as the cause of the struggles of the educational sector in my country is because the focus seems to be on passing and failing exams, and not impacting knowledge.
Education in my time is tough. Everything we learn, we learn through pain. While I was in secondary school, there was the internet but not as common as we have now. You'd have to visit a cyber cafe and pay some amount of money just to have access to 1 hour of internet. Back then, the last thing I thought about whenever I'm privileged to sit in front of a computer was education.
However, the game has changed. Majority of students in the senior secondary schools have access to internet ready devices in the form of desktops, laptops and phones. Even as a teacher, I do give students assignments beyond what is written in black and white in their syllabus. I give them assignments that require browsing the internet for answers. It helps to improve their research skills while learning something tangible in return. A typical case of a double win.
Education in my country is baffling. Looking back at some of the things I endured just to get a certificate, it's glaring that we can do way better than that. Some of the acts of instructors that later became rules that must be followed was bordering between passing across knowledge in a tough love manner and mental assault. You'd see lecturers walk into the class and declare that they are going to make the life of some students a living hell.
Funnily enough, the kind of joy they derive in doing those horrible things is dumbfounding. Pushing students to the limit gives them pride. They'd set exams for students to fail. They somehow have this twisted thought that students will take them for granted if their exams are easy to pass.
But then, why are we still harping on about exams when it's now glaring that grades rarely determine success these days? How many more examples do we need before we realize that setting written exams is no longer the best way to gauge the level of knowledge and understanding of a particular individual?
Every student going for an exam will definitely prepare for it. The problem arises when those things learnt in school are to be applied in real life scenarios. That's where it becomes glaring that there is a difference between passing exams and understanding to apply. Big corporations know this and will always plump for a guy with a lower grade and proven experience in a field compared to a guy with better grade but no experience.
I hope the Ministry of Education finds a way of testing students in accordance with today's realities. I hope they focus more on teaching knowledge geared towards application than teaching whatever rubbish that is crammed in the topic section of a curriculum. A lot of computer science graduates are out there and can barely write a code to save their lives. They are probably briefly taught Java by a lecturer who is more interested in selling handouts than passing across knowledge.
In a world of smartphones, smart TVs and smart cars, is there a place for "smart students"? Of course, there is. Why not?!
