History teachers not to blame

Kristine Kilkelly, the NZQA’s Deputy Chief Executive for Assessment, made some good points yesterday in relation to NCEA Level 3 History examination assessors carefully considering the strength of the candidates’ arguments in their written responses. The assessors will be able to ascertain the candidates’ level of understanding of an examination question that asked them to ‘‘analyse the extent to which you agree or disagree with Caesar’’, who is quoted as having said that ‘‘events of importance are the result of trivial causes’’.

Students who know what ‘trivial’ means should be wellplaced to deliver a high quality essay, given their prior understanding of the word, but will need to argue a compelling case in support of or opposition to Caesar’s quotation. That aspect is not negotiable; it forms a crucial part of the assessment task. Those senior students unfamiliar with this word – surprising as this is to many Press readers – will also need to convince their examiner that they can engage with the set topic intelligently and rigorously. The requirements of this assessment do, and should, not vary in accordance with students’ word knowledge.

Kilkelly is correct to maintain that a petition from some 1300 senior students will not persuade NZQA staff to change the marking criteria for this particular piece of assessment. It is entirely reasonable to expect Year 13 History students will have enough of an understanding of the English language to know what a commonly used word means. If they don’t then their History teachers should not be blamed. The reasons lie elsewhere.

Gregory Lee, Avonhead

Road toll

The pandemic is worsening, now claiming over 30 lives a month (Nov 19). The death rate has increased by 30 per cent in the past five years.

The causes are well-known; speed, inattention, alcohol, drugs, fatigue. The solutions are obvious; tougher laws on phone use, driving under the influence and speeding.

New Zealand needs more dedicated traffic police to enforce laws and appropriate speed limits. Many dangerous sections of narrow twisting rural road still have a 100kmh open road speed limit, which is simply madness.

John Gould, St Martins

Abysmal

Another year almost over, another abysmal road toll figure. It’s disgraceful.

I’d say we have to make a choice if we expect to turn things around in 2019, but with car ownership on the rise, what is the point?

I guess most drivers will simply go on hoping that it won’t happen to them because you can be the most careful and conscientious motorist on the road, but that won’t prevent some idiot from slamming into you.

Neither will clinical end-ofyear analyses, nor the usual spree of finger-pointing, although brows will duly furrow in mock concern as a sop to the seasonal surge in road casualties, while drivers everywhere go on ignoring dire warnings of rapid climate change and talk themselves into believing that it just isn’t convenient right now to give up the car.

Raymond Shepherd, Strowan

Fair treatment

There was a Stuff article this week highlighting the uphill battle Generation Z graduates face with career prospects despite being highly qualified. The focus of the article is a soon-to-be graduate with a conjoint degree who has dedicated five years of her life to tertiary education in the hopes that it will lead to a career path in her chosen field.

The comments that followed the article were mostly vitriolic, mean-spirited and unhelpful. People should learn to treat others how they would like to be treated themselves, and not to jump at every opportunity to play the role of supreme judge, deciding what is what.

Troy Lane, Somerfield

Plastic bags

Some supermarkets have ceased to supply what they call ‘single-use’ plastic bags, a specious term because, unless staff can see into the future, or into all the homes and business premises of all their customers, they cannot know the fate of any bag once it has left the supermarket premises.

Sheryn Gillard Glass, St Albans