re: #7 TDG2112

re: #6 William Barnett-Lewis

Yup, and yup.

We’ve already seen cheating scandals in the States, because aggregate test scores are now tied to funding (and penalties). If the push for standardized “assessments” continues, those kind of abuses will continue, too.

The mainland has effectively turned secondary and tertiary education (below the Ph.D.) level into an examination mill. Courses, texts and teaching methods are all geared toward students passing the national tests. Whether they learn anything useful or practical beyond that training is more by luck than anything else. My students who have managed to study for a time in the UK and the USA marvel at our tertiary education, which allows them to question and probe their given subjects, rather than repeat what others have already said or written. Reading graduation theses is disheartening, as it’s all just retreads of what others have already said. Originality is discouraged; compliance with “accepted thought” is expected.