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Originally posted by keldas
Originally posted by CaticusMaximus
Originally posted by Sly1one
It made no sense up till the questions.
The questions are easily answerable. The point is to answer the questions not analyze the logical practicality of the "story". They aren't looking for logical or rational explanations of the absurd...
All the questions are easily answerable if you stick to answering the questions and refrain from adding assumptions to what the story "means"...the story doesn't MEAN anything...the story isn't meant to be deconstructed to find meaning or value...its meant to test someones ability to answer the questions by identifying irrelevant information and identifying it as such, discarding it and answering the question without adding assumptions regardless of whether or not they are logical or rational.
I totally understand where they were going with this question and the intent they had behind it.
The debatable part from my stand point is whether or not its appropriate for that age/grade group.
Before reaching page 5, I was going to say something similar. I agree with these thoughts in this post and those following.
I think most of the objections people have over this story are insignificant. The story is a story to test reading comprehension, NOT a story meant to be contrasted with so called "real" life, with the goal to be the pointing out of inconsistency, nor a story meant for the individual to personally interpret.
The prime example being, of course, the question on whose the wisest. Who the individual personally perceives to be the wisest is not relevant, which I think is a severe hang up for most people here, and elsewhere (the problem is separating the contextually objective, from the subjective opinion, which Ive noticed throughout my life is a problem for most people). The question is practically answered for the individual in the final line of the story. Morals of stories are impartments of wisdom, thus the one who most closely reinforced that moral in the story was the most wise IN THE CONTEXT OF THE STORY AND QUESTION, which is the only thing that is relevant.
But since everyone seems to be adding their own take on who was the wisest, Ill add mine. It was the pineapple, because the pineapple, IMO, successfully played everyone else for a fool.
Honestly within the context of the story, the questions to me are easily and logically answerable.edit on 4/23/2012 by CaticusMaximus because: (no reason given)edit on 4/23/2012 by CaticusMaximus because: (no reason given)
I don't see how the pineapple was the wisest as the end result of him playing everyone for a fool resulted in him being eaten.
Originally posted by Infrasilent
Originally posted by CaticusMaximus
Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
reply to post by kaylaluv
if they were simply annoyed they would have just smashed it. They ate it because they were hungry.
here is another that was on one of kids exams:
There is a band leader and 100 other band members. If the band members lined up in rows of 10 how many rows would they have in all?
Why waste a good fruit by smashing it though?
To answer this other question that on the test, the answer would be 11. There are 101 band members. One of them is the leader, but is still a member, implied by the word "other". If "other" was missing, it would imply the leader was not a "member", and would not line up with them. 10 rows of 10, and 1 row of 1, is 11.
Thats how I see that, anyway. If Im wrong, Ill blame the test writers lack of clarity
Actually, the band members question CAN'T be answered. It implies via the word "other" that there are 101 band members. You cannot line 101 people up in rows of 10. There will always be someone left over.
Originally posted by ShiningBeneath
Nothing indicates the animals hold grudges, so for this the answer should be because they are hungry - simplest cause and effect; hunger = eat - Occam's razor.
Originally posted by FREEwoman
Anyone who agrees that this question should have been pulled - YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY.
This was one of the simplest stories and lines of questioning I've ever seen in a standardized test.
All those who say it is ambiguous, or has too much non-pertinent information - I honestly believe you are simply too **ck*** stupid to figure out the answers to the questions! Just because YOU don't understand what is going on in this insanely simple story, it does not mean that you should take the challenge and lesson away from the students who DO have the intelligence to use this story to further their educations with some critical thinking.
No, it was not ambiguous, and what does it matter if it is based in reality? Kids watch cartoons all day long of characters like Sponge Bob who lives in a freaking pineapple under the sea, so I'd assume it would be even EASIER for the students to follow this simple, fictional line of events. Also, throwing irrelevant information into a question is a tried and true method of teaching the kids to pay attention to what information is important in communicating and problem solving.
Good lord - it really makes me mad how many people thought it was OKAY to take this question off of the table. No wonder I'm surrounded by a nation of sheep that are more than eager to uphold the (less than) mediocre status quo. Shameful.
Originally posted by CaticusMaximus
I would agree with others, however, that this story and series of questions is probably out of place in a test for 8th graders. The depth of logic needed to accurately flesh out the answers is to deep for the vast majority of 8th graders. Im not so sure that comes down to bad schooling, either. I think it comes down to age, in this circumstance. I would not expect a 13 year old to be able to come to the conclusions that I or others did.
Originally posted by questforevidence
This is ridiculous. A test should be simple to understand especially for 8th Grade Students