Sidebar
Formal
It’s not too late to ask somebody to
formal. Just make sure that the flowers are expensive (or at least look
expensive).
Sports!
Winter sports are starting up again, so
get stoked. Keep a special eye out for the Menly Mens JV Soccer Power Squad.
Macklemore
Tickets!
I am selling two tickets for the
Macklemore concert tomorrow night, so contact me if you are interested.
-Dan
Sunset
Club
Windansea Shack. Today. 4:30. Word.
New
Rule
Until the end of the year, only Christmas
music may be played in the rec room. Tripp, hopefully 2 Chainz and Big Sean
have Christmas albums.
T-21
Days until Christmas!!!!!
Lyrics
Quiz
Tell me baby
What’s your story
Where you come from
And where you wanna go this time
Articles
Exams?
By: Dan Forssman
December means a lot of
things to a lot of people. The 1st rolls around, and we bust out the
Santa hats, shop for Christmas trees, and revive our Frank Sinatra holiday
Pandora playlists. We ask others or get asked to formal. We frivolously
decorate our houses and bring the same cheer to the senior lawn at school. We
get stoked for Christmas break and New Years.
And then we realize that we
go to Bishop’s, and have to take midterms.
I have asked myself for six
years: what do exams accomplish? I now feel comfortable saying that their
impact is almost completely negative.
First of all, the idea that
two hours of my work should contribute 25% of my grade in a semester where I
have put in hundreds of hours (bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point) of
work is inherently flawed. Why should these two hours have exponentially more
weight that any others in which I have produced meaningful work? One may argue
that an exam is actually a reflection of the work I have put in during the
semester. However, this is not necessarily true. If I don’t study as much as I
should, have a bad test day, or make a couple foolish errors on an exam, my grade
suffers drastically, no matter how much time or effort I have previously invested
into the class.
Don’t get me wrong, I
understand the concept of testing, and why it is an important facet of an
education. However, exams cross the line of reasonability. I take and have
taken two-hour science or math tests quite often. Why should an exam of the
same length count for a much greater percentage of my grade? Why, if I have
performed to the best of my abilities throughout a semester, am I pressured
into proving myself in a stressful two-hour exam that has a solid effect on my
grade? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Not to mention the other
problems that arise because of exams. For some reason, we have three days of
review, days in which very few students accomplish anything productive. We
would all be much more efficient if we stayed at home and studied during these
days instead of wasting valuable classs time that could go towards learning
more. And not only are these review days unfavorable, but they also cause
teachers to force in new topics and related assessments, all in the week before
exams. Exams not only cause stress during exam week itself; they also hurt us
in the weeks leading up to them as well.
No student likes exams, nor
should they. But I believe that, for pedagogical, practical, and academic
reasons alike, I am justified in my stance against exams. Exams should not be a
forum for the grades of good students to suffer for any number of reasons, nor
for bad students to have a chance to save their grades. Exams, logically,
should not exist. And when you factor in the pressure they put on the students,
especially on those seniors receiving college decisions during the same week
they take exams, I would say that eradicating exams is a no-brainer. If you
want to check that I learned something, look back at the 15 or so weeks I just
spent in your class, the 15 or so weeks of work I just put into your class.
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