Hi, again!
I must say that I am happy about the great (sometimes furious) response
I got to my memo about tests and exams! This really concerns one of our
important tasks in teaching, so it is important to think about it carefully.
Of course, there are differences in opinions, but that is OK. We all are
different. But since so much has been written about this topic, I feel that
I should be a little more explicit about my thoughts.
I 100% agree that tests and exams have a lot of primary and secondary
purposes (all those mentioned by different writers). I just had mentioned
the most basic one (evaluate the knowledge of students) for brevity.
When we say that we should prepare students for the REAL LIFE, this is
certainly correct, we can here go overboard. Let's face it: the real
world is a jungle, the strong eats the weak and, from it, gets healthy
and happy! Cheating (or half-way chieting) often leads to success (or
to prison). Many employers whom students will face after graduation are
unfair, obnoxious, etc. etc. But: should we prepare students for the
real life also being this way ???
We all hate bureaucracy! Hard rules, mostly well intended, but inflexible
to adapt to particular circumstances. We feel that common sense should
prevail, with a general consensus of fairness. But it is easy for us to
also set strict rules (many times without a specific need) and then apply
them without flexibility. Hence this is an appeal to common sense.
There should be NO NEED for laws regarding handicapped students.
No need for an "official list" of acceptable excuses, etc. Common
sense and some compassion should be sufficient to solve any problem.
On many occasions I said to a student: I don't care about the place
and time you give a make-up exam, but you have TO PROVE TO ME that
you know the course in order to pass it.
Regards Emilio