Number of words: 182 The portrayal of grading as a bell shaped curve is an incident of stratification by educationists and psychologists of a predetermined system that they want implemented universally. It is an equation with the physical sciences, to draw principles which are considered objective and always true. Yet how can such an equation … Read more

Number of words: 309 The IQ debate has been a fundamental one, not only to education, but also to the philosopher and politician. Even to pose the question as to which was more important, heredity or environment, has been dangerous in certain periods of history. To give a particular answer has often been to invite … Read more

Number of words: 311 Mendel’s studies on heredity have had their impact in mental heredity as well, for instance the oft repeated slogan, ‘Like father, Like son’, in the sense that offspring comes to resemble the parent in certain mannerisms of behaviour – has probably elevated the IQ test to an enviable position. By finding … Read more

Number of words: 132 From the time in 1897 when Rice devised his spelling test, there has been popular antipathy towards IQ tests which seems strange for something that claims to be scientific and whose purpose is to provide information about the inherent capacities of a person and therefore an indication how we will fare … Read more

Number of words: 819 Competition was largely unknown, with the result that examinations proved to be more diagnostic in their execution. Those who had an opportunity to study, probably did so in order to know more about spiritual and moral matters, with the purpose of improving themselves through this knowledge. The dialectical discussions were more … Read more

Number of words: 605 In the ancients there was the widespread belief that one’s biological and mental makeup decided man’s capacity for education. Students were chosen on the basis of heredity and placed in slots for study according to their inborn capacities. The teacher was not a paid servant of the state or society. It … Read more

Number of words: 207 Examinations create class consciousness. They are unnecessary for the rich. The power or affluence of the parents will see to it that their wards, no matter how unequal to the job of passing they happen to be, are well placed in life. The security of the parents will provide the counterpoint … Read more

Number of words: 269 The approach in non-physical sciences should be less forbidding. It should rely less upon the applications of validity. It should rely more upon evidence that is derived from observation: questionnaires, interviews, informal conversations, diaries and documents. In such evaluations, oddities and side effects may prove particularly illuminating. It may not have … Read more

Number of words: 294 Creativity has never been looked at kindly by institutions or governments because creativity implies an independence of thoughts and actions that can often prove embarrassing to the status quo. The examination thus became the proper medium to ensure that all this is channelized through the textbook. That the opinions expressed in … Read more

Number of words: 113 The examination, which forms the basis of the Chinese system of education in the past, was a build up of essays in an ascending order with competition that excluded all but the best. It was justified on the grounds that it provided the means by which Confucianism and traditionalism, to their … Read more