You’ve studied hard, really hard.
You’ve spent hours and hours in the library and assessed yourself with all previous year’s question papers. While your friends were partying every night, you’ve pulled all-nighters. You turned to caffeine-loaded drinks and skipped several meals to cram for exams. You knew the material and tried your best…but you still failed the test.
When you didn’t study enough and fail the exams, you can shake it off and try to stay optimistic. But, if you’ve studied hard but still got bad grades, crying pathetically is not enough. You start blaming your tutors, your school and your too-loud siblings until you reach THAT point.
“A single paper cannot decide my future!”
“Exams are not fair!”
“Exams should be banned!”
You might have said and heard it many times. But, did you know that there are experts out there who once claimed that exams could not accurately measure student knowledge and should therefore be abolished?
Why Exams Should Be Abolished From Schools
Exams Are Too Stressful
Finland has often been praised for bringing a radical idea to life: getting rid of subjects like math, history, physics and literature to improve the way pupils learn at school. On the other hand, in some countries, students are burdened with more subjects than ever before. In England, for example, if you are entering year 10, it’s compulsory to take Math, Science, English, a technical subject (like Computer Science), language (French or Spanish), humanity (history), art (music or visual arts) and Physical Education. Plus, in some schools, students are required to take Religious Studies. All in all, you’ll have around 9-10 subjects.
While some subjects are assessed through two different exams, some consist of three or even four different question papers. How many exams do you think you’ll have to sit then?
Furthermore, all exams tend to come as a set of standardized tests. While standardized exams can efficiently measure how a large number of students interpret information, this system of assessing students doesn’t allow for individuality, creativity and freedom. Schools, I believe, should not create clones, but individuals who’ll aspire and inspire.
Exams Cannot Measure Skills and Capabilities
The great Albert Einstein once said: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
We all know what Einstein tried to convey, what he went through in school and what he achieved in his life. While we’ve always learned that school provides stability in life, we’ve also seen how many people achieved success without following such a path.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against schools but exams cannot show the full scope of students’ abilities.
Exams Cannot Differentiate Between Students
To have a better chance of passing your exam, you should prepare and start your revision well ahead of time. However, passing exams also depend on a student’s mental and physical health as well as his social situation. We all know a variety of tips, effective study strategies and tools that can get students to the top, but can all students afford these?
As time passes, more and more of your classes will get tougher and you’ll end up needing certain equipment and tools to pass any exam with flying colors. However, since we are not all born with a silver spoon in our mouths, there are certain things we won’t be able to afford. No matter how intelligent you are, you won’t get a second chance during exams if you get an asthma attack or if you are suffering from the long-lasting after-effects of constant parental abuse.
Cheating
Cheating is very common during exams, but is it fair? Particularly when the person who cheated got good grades while you, who studied hard, ended up as a failure.
