[نبيل موريس جورج]

فيما يلي تعليق علي امتحان الصف الثاني الثانوي نشرته أمس صحيفة الأهرام ويكلي لمستر عصام وهبه

Despite official confirmation that the English exam this year for the General Secondary Certificate would be related to the syllabuses that students have been studying throughout the year, the English exam is still beyond all expectations. Any exam whatsoever must test what students have learnt. But strangely enough, the English exam contained a considerable amount of vocabulary that students had never met before. To give only a few examples, the exam contained words like 'worn out, gestures, nonverbal, illustrators, snapping, agitated, precise and poaching' This, needless to say, made it too difficult for students to understand the context in which such words were used. Furthermore, some grammatical items have not been dealt with in the prescribed textbooks. Consequently, students will lose confidence in their teachers who are unsure of just what they should be teaching. The problem is that we teach something, but the exam deals with something else. Gentlemen, Let us teach the language the way we like instead of wasting our time teaching something worthless.
It is teachers alone, not anyone else, who know best their students' standard and ability, and therefore, they should have a say in everything, including the exam.
Those in charge of education in our country have got to know that reforming our deteriorating education system can by no means be implemented through difficult examinations. Our poor students!! How long shall we remain oblivious to the lamentable status quo?


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