I refer to the report headlined, 'Lift student standards across board, schools told' (South China Morning Post, December 13).
The article stated that the Education Commission is proposing to scrap the public exam for Primary Six students. I hope the commission is not thinking that by abolishing public exams, then the pressure on students will be relieved, therefore their interest in learning will be enhanced.
There is no doubt that in Hong Kong too much pressure is put on students, teachers and parents by our exam system. But abolition of exams is not the answer.
It is time that Hong Kong people understood the purposes of exams and the true meaning of test results.
There are two distinctly different ways of setting an exam paper: Certification, for the purpose of determining if the student has attained certain basic standards and understands the fundamentals of a subject.
Selection, to try to put the students in a certain order, so as to determine their knowledge of the subject.
Put it another way, a 'certification' exam would be like taking a normal driving test. After passing such a test, you would be certified as a qualified driver. A 'selection' exam would determine if you were good enough to become a racing driver.
