Leaving Cert messing up our schools

the failing standard of Honours MathsEducation in Ireland is becoming Machiavellian activity. In a piece in today’s Irish Independent about the falling standards in Honours Maths this line jumped out at me.

There is also a decline in the capacity of candidates to engage with problems that are not of a well-rehearsed type.

Now I will admit I am a bit of a Maths nerd and to me this

the time independent Schrödinger equation is quiet beautiful. However this rant is not merely about how maths is so vitally important. But about how the education system and in particular grind schools are messing up the system.

The leaving cert is not a test of skill it is a test of memory. Also the points system is not a measure of intelligence but popularity. This is a concept that not many people get. Indeed Physics is one of the lowest points courses in the CAO system. But the reason is not that it is easy but because it is perceived to be very hard.

Due to the fact that the Leaving Cert is a system of recurring questions and patterns people predict the papers, people prepare for the system. This has been championed by the Grind Schools preparing model answers that the students regurgitate on the day. And who is to blame the kids doing this, they are trying to get the best possible outcome and by learning and not understanding they will achieve the best results. But this should not be the job of the schools the aim of the schools is to educate children not teach them. You can teach the method of how do a sum but you have to educate them why the method is. Due to the high pressure on students to produce high points they don't care to understand. The schools are relenting to the pressure and teaching the kids not educating them.

This is leading to the above quote. The Exam papers nowadays ask questions that do not challenge anyone. They learn off the question and plant it down on the paper without thinking. While this might seem harmless to some it is disastrous to the country. If people coming out of the schools do not understand what they have learnt them this countries prospects are pretty dim.

My solution change the format of the papers that removes the predictability to the paper. The papers are far too formulaic and leaves its self open to predication and prepared answers. Changed the format so kids have to understand the material not learn it off. It will be better off for them in the long run.