The topic for this debate is "School exams should be replaced with other methods of assessment."

ktprktpr will be arguing for this proposition and will open the debate.
Genya will argue against this proposition.

Each debator will have one opening statement each. This will be followed by 3 alternating replies each. There will then be one closing statement each and no rebuttal.

No post will be longer than 800 words and in the case of the closing statement no longer than 500 words. In the event of a debator posting more than the stated word limit then the excess words will be deleted by me from the bottom. Credits or references at the bottom count as part of the post.

Editing is Strictly forbidden. This means any editing, for any reason. Any edited posts will be completely deleted.

Excluding both the opening and closing statements only one image or link may be included in any post. Opening and Closing statement must not carry either images or links.

As a guide responses should be made within 18 hours. However if the debate is moving forward then I have a relaxed attitude to this. However, if people are consistently late with their replies, they will forfeit the debate.

Judging will be done by an anonymous panel of 11 judges. After each debate is completed it will be locked and the judges will begin making their decision. Results will be posted by me as soon as a majority (6) is reached.

This debate is now open, good luck to both of you.

I would like to thank Kano for inviting me to take part in this debate and to wish Mr ktprktpr all the very best in our ensuing discussion. I also hope our judges and viewing public will find this debate of interest.

I should, perhaps, explain that I taught in Secondary Schools in the UK from 1984 until 2000. Since 1993, I have worked as a part time tutor for the Open University. Consequently, I have had direct experience of taking examinations as a student, marking them as a teacher and tutor: on occasion, I have set them as well. As such, I might be able to offer first person evidence – as well as formal academic research –that examinations are irreplaceable.

One of kptrktpr’s assumptions that I will gladly challenge is his first: far from being ”iron clad”, education is *not* the sole prerogative of the USA, as good practice can be drawn from around the world. I respectfully suggest that “Education” here relates to a world view/ paradigm. Thank you.

As you will realise, ktprktpr, schools and universities the world over are required to fulfil a variety of functions, one of which is to serve as selection and certification agencies, making sure that individuals are suited to, and competent for, their social and occupational roles. They also contribute to personal development and are supposed to contribute to greater social equality.

Education in a given society is intimately related to the society’s status mobility system, methods of self-advancement in a hierarchy of social goods, particularly in the occupational ladder of modern industrial societies (LeVine, 1967). Schooling is defined by Ogbu (1982) as “culturally organised formulae for preparing children to participate in the status mobility system of their society, including teaching and learning of rules of behaviour for achievement, instrumental competencies and actual behaviours required to advance in the status mobility system”. Schools certify young adults for eligibility to compete for different levels of jobs and salaries. This certification (credentials awarded as certificates, degrees or diplomas) serves as a culturally institutionalised device for job placement and remuneration.

Practically everywhere in the world there has been increased demand for access to higher education. Tertiary education has been growing continuously from 28.2 million students in 1970 to 47.5 million in 1980, to 85 million in 1993. Moreover, it is in the developing countries that the increase has been higher. Between 1970 and 1988, the number of tertiary students has multiplied eight-fold in Sub-Saharan Africa, six-fold in Eastern Asia, the Pacific and the Arab States, by four-and-a-half in Latin America and the Caribbean and has doubled in Southern Asia. Today, almost half of the students enrolled in higher education are in developing countries (Power, 1994)

Most countries in the world today do most of their selection for higher education on the basis of academic merit. The days of selection based on race, social class status or privileged position of parents are past, if not in practice, at least in theory in most countries where the goal is egalitarianism.

Most colleges and universities today seek most - if not all - of the measures for selection on merit, either in the quality of grades at school graduation or in entrance tests of academic aptitude or ability, or both. School-leaving examinations, whether it be the advanced and ordinary level General Certificate of Secondary examination in England and Wales, the French Baccalaureate, the West German Abitur, the Intermediate Examination in Pakistan, the Attestat in Russia, the Senior Certificate in South Africa or the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and High School Grade Point Average in the USA, provide the single most important measure of academic ability for selection for higher education. In countries with a highly decentralised secondary education system without uniform, externally controlled school-leaving examinations, college and university entrance tests constitute one of the main bases on which academic selection is made. Typical examples are the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT) which are extensively used in the USA.. In short, examinations are used to determine suitability and aptitude for entry into higher education, and hence, a way to increase opportunity for the individual concerned.

I have shown that examinations are still recognised, respected and valued as the means whereby an individual student’s ability and knowledge can be assessed against their peers? Further, I will later show how there has been an increase in the need for them.

I have pleasure in giving the floor to my esteemed friend and colleague ktprktpr!

References

LEVINE, R.A. (1967) Dreams and Deeds (University of Chicago Press).
OGBU, J.U. (1982) Equalisation of educational opportunity and racial/ethnic inequality, in: P.G. ALTBACH (Ed.) et al.
Comparative Education (New York, Macmillan).
POWER, C. (1994) International trends in tertiary education, keynote address, Tertiary Education Conference, South Africa, March.

800 words

Well, fortunately, since I'm arguing for the positive form of the topic, I only have to show that for one case, school exams should be replaced with other methods of assessment. I pick the United States because I know it best. And so, with a false reluctance, I draw the primary focus and judges' eye back to the good ol' United States. Home of the free, brave and proud.


First, Genya, let me ask of you a question, or two:

In your six long years of being a teacher, did you ever have a student that clearly knew the material at hand, but just couldn't score well on the test? And, may I ask, did you quit being a teacher because of any fault of the British educational system? Be honest here. The judges and God are watching.


I'll state my case simply, as there was no defense in Genya's opening:

The U.S. educational system is failing. State mandated tests are holding students back and parents are clamoring for a change. Americans are getting stupider by the second, apparently, if SAT or ACT scores are any indication. Because of all this, a high school diploma doesn't mean very much any more.

Since there was no dis-contention on Genya's part, a exam stands as a "A written test taken during a fixed time period."

How is all this failure determined, analyzed and assessed? By "exams", "tests", "finals", whatever you want to call them. I outlined the advantages of exams in my opening, but are there any failings? Yes.

Exams are absolutely the most artificial way to test someone's knowledge. Think about it. It's you, a desk, a piece of paper and the clock. There's no context, like a science lab, or an office. The questions, issued from someone else's agenda and perspective, aren't open to interpretation and you have somehow guess what they mean. Hell, look at the topic! Genya thinks the whole world should be included, but I don't (reasonably so, given my charge). Whose wrong? Whose to say?

As a high scoring SAT taker myself, I've seen a number verbal questions which were ambiguous. There have been accusations of culturally biased questions on the SAT, even, which have been changed.

Exams are often faulty and aren't the best way to assess knowledge. There are better ways. Physical models are great tools to demonstrate knowledge. For example, in testing for physics, one could demonstrate how atoms combine and break up using a simple plastic model. The teacher could pose a series of question, couched in a real life situation, to which the student could respond. Several students could be tested in one room, facing away from another, walled off, to speed up testing. This isn't a traditional exam, but a superior means of displaying knowledge. Putting the entire assessment within a hypothetical real life situation makes it much more exciting. For grading, the teacher would simply mark how many questions the student was able to solve. This assessment can even be carried out via long distance assessment (video camera to a central location).

Physical models and hypothetical real life situations can be used as an exam substitute, for many assessments. For literary works a different approach would have to taken:

Simply have a conversation with the student about the book, while sneaking in several questions. Carry this assessment out in an relaxed atmosphere and try to ferret out the students true thoughts on the book. This is surely is a more humanistic approach. Again, you can use multiple teachers at once. I never said this was going to be cheap, but education is America's finest investment.

So the point is, most exams can be replaced by a near real world demonstration. Since the key word was "should be", there will be some exams that are best carried out on paper and pencil, like math questions. But even those should be carried out on the chalk board, televised to some central testing location, if desired.

As we see, by far, exams are not the best and only way to assess ability. They are fraught with interpretational problems and biases. Since exams are supposed to predict how well a student knows the knowledge, we should just do away with the predicting and have the kids use that knowledge in some (usu. hypothetical) real life context, demonstrably to another human being. Isn't that how you would like to be assessed? School exams should be, can be, replaced with other methods of assessment.

Genya, I am glad to see that you're not letting your education get in the way of your ignorance. Since this is my next to last post I'm going to keep this simple and tell it like it is. Judges, do pay attention:

The topic asks me to argue that exams should be replaced with something else. It doesn't say where or how. All I'm supposed to do is show that exams should be replaced. Note the period. If I can do that for America, then I've done my job.

I picked the US not because of the secret Pax American fetish I harbor, but because the US educational system has raised education to a new low. Efforts to make the system more rigorous, per A Nation At Risk, have all failed. These efforts failed because we're trying to do more of the same. That's why I cited Mr. Graba, because he's right: "We cannot get the schools we need by changing the schools we have." It's not working.

The state mandated pass/fail exams, now being imposed, have caused a lot of anguish and literal failure. You can argue that the implementation was failed and the focus weak, but, state mandated exams are really just another attempt to do more of the same.

This is also why I brought Mrs. Tucker into the picture. Her report, of the part I can read, says that we need to adopt structural reform that allows more variety. Note the keyword "structural". All my citations point to the need to do something really different (a big change). That's why I brought them up, not because I found people that endorse my view. But because they support it implicitly. And that big change is to make assessment a hell of a lot more exciting, but in a valid and rigorous way, as illustrated in my previous post.

And, sure, a lot of foreign kids want to get into U.S. colleges. But that doesn't have anything to do with the U.S. high school system, the other half of the U.S. education system. Colleges already require and use demonstrative methods, like PhD. thesis defense, final group projects, internships, etc. All of U.S. education (read: high school) should incorporate these methods. If it works for colleges and so many foreign students want to come here, why not do it for US high schools too?

What I find interesting is your lack of focus on the US high school educational system. I don't know how it is in England, but primary education is a very important chunk within a nation's educational system.

Professors get into college by being assessed, by exams no less. But they can just as well gain entrance by being assessed in different ways. In fact, they do, employment history and experience are usually more important than what kind of grades the professor received their under grad studies. The point here is that there are certainly other valid ways to assess people. All I'm asking is to use these methods in American high schools.

And now I conclude with a cliff notes version of my thesis, for the needy:

1. I'm here to show an instance where school exams should be replaced with something else.

2. Exams are not the end all of assessment. They're fraught with interpretational problems and aren't very exciting. Are there other ways to demonstrate knowledge?

3. Yes. I propose an alternative, exciting and workable means of assessment. Note that this alternative hasn't been directly attacked by the Genya. (Until s/he reads this, that is...)

4. U.S. high schools, a very big chunk of the U.S. educational system, could use something like this. Why?

5. Because they're failing. Making more exams, imposing more standards, isn't helping, obviously. Look at me! I can't even subtract 1984 from 2000. Some thing new needs so be done

6. And, because demonstrating stuff is a lot more exciting, provides context, where marking a piece of paper doesn't.

7. It's just as easy to standardize and record everything. So, we get the best of everything. Even Genya said "I gladly accept that *ideally* we would have this system in place...", to which after I illustrated how it could be cost effective and workable.

So, clearly judges, we can see how and why exams should be replaced.

Throughout this debate I have shown how, realistically and possibly, a new system of assessment could be used. Specifically, I have called for the system to be installed in American high schools. There is great merit in demonstrative assessment, as I have shown. The American high school system really needs something new. You put two and two together (talking to the judge's here, not my esteemed colleague Genya). That's the "should be" in the topic title.

Yes, I have cited papers from several people who agree that the school system needs change. Furthermore, the Nation At Risk paper illuminates the fallacy of doing more of the same. My citations can be picked till they're bone white, but the premise they hold remains the same: What we're doing now isn't working: I was hoping this was obvious to Genya and that we could take this debate to a higher level. But English schooling hasn't taught Genya to read between the lines.

And it's specious reasoning to assume what has been always done is the best way to do it. I found that to be a heavy cornerstone in Genya's argument. Whether it sunk his ship or not, the judges will tell. But it's clearly un-true in the face of innovation and evolution.

Genya hasn't uncovered a reason as to why US high schools should continue with more and more standardization. It's certainly not going anywhere. It's said that I have to show that exams should be replaced - and I certainly have - but I don't feel any US high-school-specific return fire Genya's trench.

I've covered my thesis and defense. The cliff notes summary above should provide more illumination. Now I'll let the man behind the curtain come out and say a few words:

This was a great debate. I went for broke by focusing on something weird and not really "giving in." I feel that there was a good element of passion being expressed; whether I got it from the asterisks floating around Genya's replies or, lol, just going back and forth, I don't know. But it's it's been fun. May the best argument win!

It is with great sadness that I now close this fascinating debate with my learned colleague ktprktpr. I have very much enjoyed our debate and am deeply proud that ktprktpr – who I respect very highly – says that it “was a great debate”. Thank you – my thoughts entirely my friend!!

I know our judges will have a very difficult task ahead and wish them all the very best in making their decision, which I will stand by and respect, whatever the outcome. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our assembled audience for their time and trouble in reading what I trust has given “food for thought” over the past few days.

Thank you all very much!

Conclusion

I would like to highlight my main points here for your attention:

I showed that “education” – and hence examinations - should be regarded as being important globally. My colleague ktprktpr adopted a stance that was “exclusive”, however, and only wanted to focus on the USA.

I stated that I had 16 years experience as a teacher of students aged 11-18, as well as 11 years teaching on University courses with students ranging in age from 20 – 65 (in one instance). I intended that this might offer an insight of what actually happens within teaching and learning environments. Mr ktprktpr was not able to provide this knowledge but relied on hypothetical, “humanistic” models, essentially of his own devising.

By using Harvard-referenced texts, I argued that examinations were still necessary, that there was an increased and growing need for them. The “Nation at Risk” study, that ktprktpr quoted himself, stated that “Schools and colleges should adopt higher and measurable standards for academic performance”. Joe Gaba’s assertions were based on his point of view and not subject to review by peers. Sadly, when challenged, Mr ktprktpr could not provide evidence of statements, even from his chosen authorities, that examinations were the cause of the perceived problems within the USA.

Indeed, I referenced sources that showed that, in fact, the USA attracted many overseas students, especially from Asia, who valued examination success in the USA very highly.

Playing Devils advocate, I showed that ktprktpr failed to mention two arguments he might have focussed on, to show that examinations should be replaced, namely stress and increased use of continuous assessment. I countered these undisclosed arguments however.

I then concluded that throughout the history of Education, many people had strived to put into practice systems that would effectively deliver a curriculum and then to assess how effectively this had been achieved by assessment. Countless hours of research has been devoted to this, as “Education” is too important to “play around with” – our future lies in the hands of the young after all. But, the truth is that we *haven’t* devised a system that matches the present one: namely, setting examinations.

So, our respective fate is in the hands of our illustrious judges. Good luck to you ktprktpr – it has been a real pleasure!!

499 words

Excellent work both of you, I'll untie the judges and set them to work. Results in a day or so.

The result is in, and Genya has defeated ktprktpr by a margin of 6-3 in a very closely fought and enjoyable debate. You are both to be commended for the high standard of this debate.

Here are some of the judges comments.

This debate was well spoken and argued from both debaters. May this debate be a model of future discussions, and I personally wish to thank both debaters for their efforts. I will admit, this was a very close call, the judgement placed as to the winner of this debate was a diffucult one to make.

Awesome debate. wow. Genya simply out-boxed ktpr this time. Although both are very skilled and capable debaters, in my opinion this one belonged to Genya.

Damn,that was a tough one. ktprktpr, gets my vote. He did a very good job of explaining why exams are not always the most effective mean of testing someone. Both debators are well spoken,and I do hope they continue to debate in the future. Awesome debate guys.

Tough debate, due in major part to the interpretive aspect of the reading of the topic. Due to that ambiguity, this debate was won with both the Pro & Con having made their point! While not a first, it was especially pronounced here.
Having somewhat of a stalemate on the best practice of knowledge assessment, one baseline question emerged as the deciding factor of this debate: What method offers the most uniform assessment with the least variance of interpretation on what is right or wrong? The exam methodology in place today was the answer, thus giving the debate to the Con argument.

This was a very well presented, informative, and presented debate. In such, Genya presented and defended her position to a greater extent than her opponent, ktprktpr. Well fought debate by both. Congratulations to both!

Really close on this one, but Genya began with the upper hand of experience, and thus concluded the same.

Fantastic job guys.

[Edited on 29-2-2004 by Kano]