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I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate

The Stigenator

The Stigenator

Lifer
I dont listen to spoken word often but this hit close to home. I've always said, grades are great, but without application and understanding on what you are learning, that A is not worth a penny if you cant apply the concepts you just learned.

Not everybody is good at memorizing things, not everybody is good at doing everything perfectly, but why are we all held to a standard of failure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D-eVF_G_p-Y#!

Discuss.....
 
Grades have their place. Many subjects aid one's ability to think critically and problem solve. Often tests and grades are simple and accurate methods of assessing one's comprehension of the material.

I do think, however, that offering vocational options somewhere along the primary schooling career would be a much better alternative for kids who really aren't made for or have no desire to participate in typical academics.

I like Mike Rowe's testimony on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NwEFVUb-u0
 
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That's a good attitude to have if you're a dumb-ass. They would probably commit suicide otherwise. :biggrin:
 
You're free to do so but someone able to give opportunities is free to bypass you and offer it to someone else.
 
Hmmm. So you are not worried about the result of what your teacher uses to see what you have learned? Sounds logical to me...
 
A good test shows that you are able to "apply the concepts that you learned."

If you fail such a test, then you need to work harder to improve your understanding of the materials and your ability to apply them.
 
The Stigenator said:
I dont listen to spoken word often but this hit close to home. I've always said, grades are great, but without application and understanding on what you are learning, that A is not worth a penny if you cant apply the concepts you just learned.

Not everybody is good at memorizing things, not everybody is good at doing everything perfectly, but why are we all held to a standard of failure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D-eVF_G_p-Y#!

Discuss.....
Click to expand...

If you can prove it in the real world with demonstrable results then fine, otherwise you're just another dumbass who complains about "not testing well." Clients don't care why you can't do something and if you can't pass competency exams then they're unlikely to give you the chance to do real work for them.
 
Yeah, it's been said that grading is a terrible way to rate abilities. I got mediocre grades in school but excel in an unusually high number of areas, to the point where I can do them professionally. Many people are lucky to excel in one area.
 
It wont.

Theres tons of college dropouts who made big success in business. I remember a story about one guy who was functionally illiterate and built a very good company from the ground up.
 
If you can't score very well on a GRE then you're likely not cut out for grad-school.

I liked this guy's other video, even had students watch it, but this is falling toward asinine.
 
I did pretty good on tests despite never doing any homework. :awe: I have a pretty good memory so I was able to retain most of the info I learned in class.

Just don't ask me any math-related questions. 😛
 
I agree that testing is a bad assessment and that memorization should not be awarded.

But I hate the whole "I'll never use this stuff so there's no reason I should learn it" attitude. Its so juvenile and often plain incorrect depending on what field you go into. I face-palmed when they said the Pythagorean Theorem just because of how hugely important and fundamental it is to math, physics, engineering, etc.

Even if you're never going to use it for work once you grow up a bit you realize knowledge and understanding is reason enough to learn something. I love history and like learning about it but knowledge of ancient wars is never going to help me in my job. So what? The only people that have a problem with learning things and aren't 12 years old are slackers who are contempt with being stupid.
 
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Bryf50 said:
I agree that testing is a bad assessment and that memorization should not be awarded.

But I hate the whole "I'll never use this stuff so there's no reason I should learn it" attitude. Its so juvenile and often plain incorrect depending on what field you go into. I face-palmed when they said the Pythagorean Theorem just because of how hugely important and fundamental it is to math, physics, engineering, etc. The only people that say that are slackers who are contempt with being stupid.

Even if you're never going to use it for work once you grow up a bit you realize its nice to just have the knowledge and understanding. I love history and like learning about it but knowledge of ancient wars is never going to help me in my job. So what?
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Creativity flourishes within a liberal arts education.
 
DaveSimmons said:
A good test shows that you are able to "apply the concepts that you learned."

If you fail such a test, then you need to work harder to improve your understanding of the materials and your ability to apply them.
Click to expand...

Bullshit! A good test grade mainly means being good at testing, not necessarily or expressly good at what is being tested for.

Some little Scandinavian podunk crushes all other countries in all subjects and they do not test.
 
I always hated the way the school system works and glad I'm done it and it's long behind me. Can't disagree with that video.

What I used to hate the most about school is the memorization, and the fact that you were graded on how closely you followed their way, and not the actual result.

ex: typical math problem with geometry that says "find x" will require you to have a set of calculations to get to that answer.

But if you were to draw a scale model with known angles and dimensions then figure out the other dimensions from there by using a ruler, why is that wrong, you got the answer.

Even in college it was bad for that. ex: A C++ problem where the user enters 3 numbers, and the program should output them in descending order. Most logical thing is to put them in an array and sort them using a loop of sorts to shift the numbers around. WRONG, because the teacher wanted you to use JUST if statements, because we did not learn loops yet. What kind of BS is this? I actually failed a test over that, I used "illegal" concepts even though they were much more efficient than what they wanted.
 
Well, that video was a waste of time. I guess we can all claim to be geniuses if each of us gets to decide how others are allowed to measure our skills and knowledge. 🙄

DixyCrat said:
Creativity flourishes within a liberal arts education.
Click to expand...

True. And in the past, people with liberal arts degrees were hired NOT for what they had learned in college. They were hired because their degree was a testament to their ability to learn, something that every employer wants to see in a new employee. Trouble today is that too many people get liberal arts degrees.

In some ways, the more "practical" engineering/science degrees (where it's at least more about what we learned in college) seem akin to degrees from a vocational high school.
 
PowerEngineer said:
Well, that video was a waste of time. I guess we can all claim to be geniuses if each of us gets to decide how others are allowed to measure our skills and knowledge. 🙄



True. And in the past, people with liberal arts degrees were hired NOT for what they had learned in college. They were hired because their degree was a testament to their ability to learn, something that every employer wants to see in a new employee. Trouble today is that too many people get liberal arts degrees.

In some ways, the more "practical" engineering/science degrees (where it's at least more about what we learned in college) seem akin to degrees from a vocational high school.
Click to expand...

But we're also in a world where advanced levels of education are needed to do many jobs; and those trade-(high)-skill jobs pay well.

If I'm stuck with a graduate from directional-state-school I'd rather have someone with a chemical engineering degree as a boss; If I get a top 10% school, then i'd rather have someone with a liberal-arts degree as a boss.
 
SphinxnihpS said:
Originally Posted by DaveSimmons
A good test shows that you are able to "apply the concepts that you learned."

If you fail such a test, then you need to work harder to improve your understanding of the materials and your ability to apply them.
Click to expand...

Bullshit! A good test grade mainly means being good at testing, not necessarily or expressly good at what is being tested for.

Some little Scandinavian podunk crushes all other countries in all subjects and they do not test.
Click to expand...

Those are two different things.
 
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