Old ways not always the best
FOR years, I sat examinations and each one I took tested what I remembered rather than what I understood. I now remember even less of what I was spoon-fed than I did at the time, which begs the question as to why we test knowledge not comprehension.
My most helpful subject was Geometry, which has little practical relevance but trains the brain to think laterally. I remember failing a biochemistry degree exam in part over my lack of detailed knowledge of the Kreb’s citric acid cycle. Yet I spent a summer trying to remember chemical formulae never again to use that knowledge.
I have never needed to refer to Mr Kreb’s discovery. What was the point? I believe I was a credit to my profession despite many if not most of the facts memorised to jump through O-level, Highers, undergraduate and post-graduate hoops having long since evaporated from my cerebral cortex.
When one looks at how Finland has dramatically raised educational standards by teaching less, abandoning homework and ditching standardised exams, one wonders whether John Swinney’s revamp of the education system goes far enough (“Scottish school reforms attacked as ‘dysfunctional’ and ‘unwanted’”, The Herald, June 23). There is no private education in Finland so society as a whole has a vested interest in ensuring the state education system is the best it can be with the added bonus of breaking down social barriers at an early age.
If 12 Scottish students drop out of further education each day perhaps Nicola Sturgeon should investigate why they become disenchanted with their courses rather than query the methodology used to count them.
For years the medical profession treated gastric ulcers by partial gastrectomy; that is, radical surgery. Now you are given a pot of yoghurt to treat the same condition (okay, I exaggerate) but it demonstrates that the traditional method is not always best. We should use the education system to create well-rounded personalities, not churn out drones.
David J Crawford,
Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.
This is the old Dumbarton Bridge spanning the River Leven. It has recently had lights fitted to illuminate the bridge at night. Canon 5D Mk2 at f11 20 sec ISO 100. By Herald reader Tom Clark.
I took this with a