Goverment says too many exams harmful; gives more exams

Dear US educators: for a hard look at the logical extreme of teaching to the test, watch the news from here.

We've been too hard on the dears...

Stating that the current exam system in Turkey is turning students into workaholics, The Minister of Education Hüseyin Çelik said this week that (roughly translated)

of course we are preparing our children for higher education, but our goal is also an education that prepares them for life, provides opportunity for play, and ensures their happiness (literally, love and kindness).

He asserted that the Ministry's Counseling Research Center is researching exam trauma to find solutions to the problems that, admittedly, the education system itself has created. He added that the Ministry intends to improve the quality of education, which means introducing new educational methods, since "wrong methods don't bring right results."

... but they can't ALL go to university, you know

I suppose the reporters at that press conference forgot to ask the Minister about the news from two weeks ago, that reported an alarming increase in the enrollment at after-school exam prep courses. Traditionally, exam anxiety becomes a marketable commodity during 7th grade, as students get prepared for the post-8th grade OKS exam that determines their options for high school. This mania accelerates during high school as students prepare for the dreaded ÖSS university entrance exam (more precisely the university elimination exam), which I've written about here, here, and here.

The notorious 8th grade exam has been abolished, but in its place are new exams given over three years, whose average will be just as weighty as the old OKS. Enrollment at weekend exam prep courses has nearly doubled as students from 4th, 5th and 6th grades are now being registered by nervous parents. Word is spreading that many schools are still teaching to the old test, and that without outside help, unprepared 4th graders might miss their chance for the right university and specialization.

The increasingly detrimental exam system here is an administrative --not educational-- solution for the university openings available for only a fraction of the number of students who want to continue their studies. The purpose of the exams may be different from the US, but from here we can see the how 12 years of teaching to the test takes its toll on curiosity, creativity, and learning skills for self-directed learning. Take heed.

Türkçe haberlerini okumak için linkleri tıklayınız;

Radikal: Çocuklar 'sınavkolik' oldu 

Radikal: Milli Eğitim ne yapsa dershanelere yarıyor

Comments

[Wesley Fryer]

Tom: I heard Roger Shank discuss at SITE 2007 the importance of home schoolers being admitted to college via alternative methods other than high school transcripts and test scores. Of course the college admissions situation is a big numbers game, so they may always look for quick ways to cull down the numbers, and test scores are certainly a ready mechanism for that. It is sad to hear about other countries seeming to follow the US in the testing mania. The words of the Turkish education minister sound very reasonable. I created a video documentary (which unfortunately we couldn't get permission to publicly publish) on test anxiety as a grad student several years ago. This is a real issue, but one which I perceive leaders in the US currently pay little heed. I wonder how this train of testing momentum can be slowed and switched onto a different and more constructive track? I don't have an answer to that question but I am certainly searching for one.

[tom]

Thanks, Wes, for bringing up the politics of education. Education policy isn't necessarily about education. The most important drivers are not teachers or parents, or even experts in pedagogy. In Turkey, the exam system is driven by the billion-dollar exam prep course business, and there just hasn't been enough courage (or financial independence?) to stand up to that lobby. I'm somebody somewhere in the US is benefiting from NCLB. Follow the money.

Another big problem with education policy is that it takes years before you can really evaluate the impact of a policy change. Unfortunately a lot of ed policy evaluation is about grades and graduation statistics, because they're quantifiable, quick and dirty, even though policy really needs to be evaluated according to its impact on economic sustainability and innovation. I just listened this weekend to the speech by Tim Tyson (http://tinyurl.com/2hw5rg) which I learned about from you. It takes a lot of strong, smart leadership to make the drastic changes that might have saved their hometown.

A big problem is that it's difficult to get people to look even ten years into the future, especially when high school students are thinking about a job or college next year, and their parents just want to see the diploma. To get all the stakeholders on board for a major change is risky business.

I think about this stuff all the time, and I don't have answers. I'm working with colleagues here to explore alternatives such as authentic work, but even as a private school we are shackled by the central government's prescribed program, exams, objectives, etc., all of which target that one exam.

Happy Monday.

[Sarah]

I encountered the anxiety exam here in the U.S. I worked with a new exchange program at a University that provided ESL for students participating in a 1 year exchange program at a private Turkish school here in the U.S. The students were already preparing for the national exams even though they hadn't entered high school in Turkey. They talked about the importance of the exam in determining their future. After they returned to Turkey I kept in contact with many of them and about 40% had enrolled in some kind of prep course for the exam. About 10% chose to stay in the United States and enroll in the private school with hopes that this would help them get into an American university. This style of testing was enculturated for them. As I was teaching them applied English, I pushed the boundaries of their academic comfort with presentations, group projects, field trips and the use of rubrics. While their resistance was huge almost insurmountable (administration-wise) those boys were applying what they learned and as an educator I could assess their progress and my instruction. Watching my husband, a 6th grade teacher here in the U.S., endure the Connecticut Mastery Test every year reminds me that the tests don't do much but provide numbers for administrators to interpret as they will. We have to find better ways to authentically and continually assess students rather because all or nothing has always been broken.

The New York Times just published an article about the private school, test prep, and sleep deprived lives of Korean students. www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/world/asia/27seoul.html