Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 29, 2008 Editorial
During the past week, parents all over the country began clamouring for the release of the results of what used to be the Secondary Schools Entrance Examinations. Rumours began flying that the results were out when nothing could have been further from the truth.
The anxiety that parents display while awaiting for the results of an examination is testimony to the extent to which parents seek to live their lives through their children. It is a question of pride, moreso for the parents than for the child, when the latter performs well at an examination.
The joy that parents exude when their children do exceedingly well is unbridled, and this must be the case because, for the most part, they invest a lot in their children, some spending thousands of dollars in private lessons.
Some who have the wherewithal have the resources to send their children to private schools, where there is the belief that the system is so much better than in the public schools.
And as more of these private schools emerge, more parents are forking out already scarce money to ensure that their children are prepared to compete in the world.
But this has its shortcomings, because those children who cannot cope with the rigours of economics and yet are forced to study simply end up trying to achieve what they are incapable of.
Gone are the days when children were allowed to develop naturally, often broadening their horizons by being exposed to those things in nature; and by learning from their peers.
The pressure by parents for their children to do well has removed this aspect of development, leaving the child to learn vicariously.
It is this trend of lessons and extra classes that has many children being unable to properly express themselves. They do not have the necessary knowledge base.
This may be the reason for many children being unable to properly address questions presented at the examinations.
Be that as it may, nearly every parent expects his or her child to be among the top performers. The newspapers and other media houses are going to hound the students for photographs and interviews, and parents are going to boast about the dedication of the children.
This year, the examinations are slightly different from last year, because the examiners are going to be using the results of an earlier examination to award ten per cent of the marks. The examination from which the ten per cent will come is the Level Four examinations.
A few years ago, ever since Dr. Dale Bisnauth was Education Minister, he spoke of scrapping the Secondary Schools Examinations because, as he put it, children were drilled for this one examination and some excellent performers often failed to do well because of either jitters or careless mistakes.
The view was that there would be constant testing so that the teachers would be able to assess the performance of the child throughout his primary school years. And this is how it should be if the nation is to capture the best brains. However, it is this very reliance on the Level Four Examinations for an assessment that would make parents frown in certain cases.
There are going to be the disappointed few whose children, having been performing to the maximum this past year or after private lessons, might not have done so well. The parents are going to ignore the fact that another examination was factored into the equation.
What is somewhat frightening is the fact that, having prepared the children to be extremely competitive and to do well, many of the schools may not have the quality of teachers to take these children to the next level. Recently, we learnt that Physics may go the way of Latin.
Only two city schools are offering this subject.
It is the same with Mathematics; only one teacher was available to teach the subject at the highest level in schools in the city, a far cry from the days when such teachers abounded in the education system.
Even English Language teachers seem to be in short supply. So we have parents spending a lot of money to make their children be the best, but when the children reach the platform for take off, they may find that there are no teachers.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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