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Speech On Should Exams be Banned

should exams be banned short speech

  • Updated on  
  • Dec 15, 2023

Speech on Should Exams be Banned

According to NCRB Data, 864 out of 10,732 youngsters under the age of 18 years died by suicide. This life ending, out of peer pressure, rose to 13,089 in 2021. These statistics do not reflect the numbers, but they remember how uneasy it is for children to face pressure just for the name of studies. 

In the world of technology, when things are just a few seconds away from every human, testing knowledge and skills is no longer theoretical. Academic institutions focusing more on hands-on experience celebrate success and give a different perspective to the present and the future in real-time.Ā 

But as every coin has two sides, the same here is the heated topic of exams being banned or not, which is just not one-sided. On the one hand, old traditions still hold books and bags firmly, and on the other hand, some people believe in a practical approach without any mental stress and anxiety.

In this writing, we will try to understand whether the big and all-time hot topic, whether exams should be banned, still holds relevance or whether people have grown smarter to know that there is life beyond learning from books.

Also Read: Top 6 Effective Classroom Teaching Methods

2-Minute Speech On Should Exams Be Banned Speech

ā€˜Hello and welcome to everyone present here. Today, I will be presenting a speech on ā€˜Should Exams be Banned?ā€™ One of my friends with a twelve-year-old daughter was scrolling down on Netflix. As it was March, the peak time of pre-board examinations, I asked her about her preparation out of curiosity.ā€™

ā€˜She smiled back at me and asked me to chill, as the school doesn’t support examinations and goes for fun learning via classroom practical experience. Since there was no peer pressure of any review, she also planned a vacation with friends.ā€™ 

ā€˜Although the example was fictitious, it cannot be denied that some schools do not support pen and paper for examination; they believe in fun learning and remembering.ā€™

ā€˜Are school bags becoming so heavy that students cannot see the bright future? CanĀ“t testing of studies cannot be turned on with practical learning, which turns off the pressure and makes learning fun?ā€™

ā€˜There might be people who will support examinations, as according to them, bookish knowledge cannot be replaced with practical and real-time learning. But what if we helped tests with adventure, like in Australia, Finland, Shanghai, and Canada?ā€™

ā€˜In the words of Thomas Edison, ā€œTomorrow is my exam but I donā€™t care, a single paper canā€™t decide my future.ā€ Examinations are just a way to test your knowledge, and doing it with a pen and paper is unnecessary. Replace everything with expertise and practical experience and build a new world of learning. 

Thank you.ā€™

Also Read: Essay on Education System

Also Read: How to Prepare for UPSC in 6 Months?

10 Lines on Should Exams Be Banned 

1.  No examination leads to exploration of real-world scenarios, which helps the students to learn with real experience.

2. Some students are born brilliant and do well in classrooms because they utilize their potential by removing the anxiety of last-moment examinations.

3. Interactive sessions create a broad definition of success, which is beyond classrooms. 

4. Examinations are no guarantee, as there is a distinct and dynamic future beyond academics.

5. No examination creates new learning styles and easy-to-go practical methods.

6. Without examinations, creating a cooperative learning environment is healthy for students.

7. If discussed with no peer pressure of examinations, children’s chances of comprehensive understanding raise the bar. 

8. No examination is the door to creativity and logical thinking.

9. As there will be no static examination pattern, the chances of creative learning styles will be enhanced. 

10. No examination with more creativity and hands-on experience will lead to more potential preparation for challenges.

Also Read: Importance of Education in Development

Examinations could be more effective in terms of creativity and exposure of talent. Moreover, tests stress students, sometimes leading to disinterest in studies.

Henry Fischel, an American businessman, invented examinations in the 19th century.

Examinations calculate grades and marks, setting a benchmark for numbers instead of fun and learning. When there is no fun in education, students cannot figure out what interests them; hence, it kills their creativity.

Examinations have a set of standards that lead the students on the way, followed for years.Ā 

Many students cannot handle the peer pressure of the examinations. Due to this, their health gets affected, leading to depression and mental health issues.

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Deepika Joshi

Deepika Joshi is an experienced content writer with educational and informative content expertise. She has hands-on experience in Education, Study Abroad and EdTech SaaS. Her strengths lie in conducting thorough research and analysis to provide accurate and up-to-date information to readers. She enjoys staying updated on new skills and knowledge, particularly in the education domain. In her free time, she loves to read articles, and blogs related to her field to expand her expertise further. In her personal life, she loves creative writing and aspires to connect with innovative people who have fresh ideas to offer.

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Should exams be abolished?

F or young people, exams, like death and taxes, were once certainties of life. That was the case, at least, in a society that couldnā€™t have imagined a pandemic shutting it down and forcing it to adapt as radically as it has. The alterations coronavirus has forced us to make have allowed us to see what is possible that we previously thought impossible, and that includes a world without exams.

Even before the pandemic and the forced cancellation of both GCSEs and A-Levels for two years in a row, there was a growing consensus that the examination system is broken and unfit for purpose. Particular concern has been expressed about the relationship of more rigorous exams, introduced by Michael Gove under David Cameronā€™s coalition government, to the decline in young peopleā€™s mental health in recent years. A recent survey revealed that young people in Britain are the unhappiest in Europe, with only 64% of them experiencing ā€˜high life satisfactionā€™ (the happiest young people were found to be Romanians, of whom 85% reported high life satisfaction). More troublingly, research conducted in 2018 revealed that 20% of girls and 10% of boys had self harmed or attempted suicide at some point in their lives. Gus Oā€™Donnell, formerly head of the civil service, blamed this, in a report by The Guardian , at least partly on an “addiction to exams”.Ā 

After the cancellation of exams for the second year in a row, the voices calling for their abolition grew louder. The idea in particular of abolishing GCSEs is gaining a great deal of momentum, especially among journalists, social commentators and teachers. The Times reported in November 2019 that heads from the Girlsā€™ School Association had said that GCSEs “belong in the Victorian times” and are “outmoded and draining” . While government officials have not commented on the dilemma quite to the same extent, Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow and chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, described GCSEs as “pointless”, calling for them to be scrapped and A-Levels to be replaced with a baccalaureate-style system containing a mixture of arts, science and vocational subjects.Ā 

Critics have pointed out that the UK remains out of step with its European neighbours with GCSEs still in place, since it is the only country in the continent to test pupils at 16 and then at 18

Even more significantly, Lord Kenneth Baker, who was Education Secretary when GCSEs were introduced in 1986, has called for them to be scrapped. He has argued that they have become redundant now that pupils must legally stay in school or training until they are eighteen. Critics have also pointed out that the UK remains out of step with its European neighbours with GCSEs still in place, since it is the only country in the continent to test pupils at 16 and then at 18. Adding SATs for pupils in Year 2 and Year 6, they argue, makes British children some of the most over-tested in the world.Ā 

By contrast, the Department for Education has shown no sign of supporting calls for GCSEs to be scrapped. In response to Halfonā€™s comments, they defended GCSEs as ā€˜gold-standard examsā€™ . Similarly, Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, rebuked claims that children are overtested in the UK, dismissing the argument as a ā€˜mythā€™ and suggesting instead that examination is good for both students and teachers.Ā 

The outcome of cancelling GCSEs and A-Levels last summer was far from adequate, with an algorithm used for moderation downgrading grades given by teachers by up to three grades, especially in deprived areas. This was taken by some as a reason to rethink criticisms of the exam system, evidence that exams were in fact necessary and the only fair way to determine the qualifications pupils leave school with.Ā 

This is a meritocratic argument, but the flip-side of this is that exams were never truly fair to begin with. The attainment gap between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers speaks for this, as well as the variation in results from pupils who go to schools in affluent and deprived areas. Pupils from wealthier families are also afforded more support with their exams – their parents can afford to hire tutors or buy expensive revision books. They are also more likely to have sufficient study space and time.Ā 

Recent research from King’s College London found that teacher assessments are equally as reliable as standardised exams at predicting educational success

Many oppose the abolition of exams because the potential alternatives are not up to the same standard. One option could be to make the temporary system of giving pupils grades permanent – teachers would decide, from the performance of pupils in the classroom, their final grade (though obviously without an algorithm to interfere with their judgments). Recent research from Kingā€™s College London found that teacher assessments are equally as reliable as standardised exams at predicting educational success.Ā 

The major concern that arises, of course, could be bias.Ā 

Concern has been raised by students over negative relationships with their teachers affecting their grades: an anonymous student writing for the Independent mentioned a friend declaring ā€œMy life is over,ā€ after mitigation measures for exams were announced during the reveal of the third lockdown.Ā 

Coursework as an alternative removes some of the stress and anxiety of exams by allowing pupils to spread their work over a period of time

Another option could be to replace exams with coursework. Although not favoured by the coalition government that reformed exams and removed much of the coursework, it potentially removes some of the stress and anxiety of exams by allowing pupils to spread their work over a period of time. It could also be argued that it is better preparation for further or higher education, where coursework is used far more frequently, especially for humanities subjects. It is also much more similar to tasks that would be expected in the workplace, with the obvious expectation that pupils wonā€™t find anything resembling exams awaiting them when they enter the world of work.Ā 

However, part of the reason that coursework has been removed for the most part from exam syllabuses is concerns about cheating, through copying another student or even through the use of essay mills. By contrast, there are far fewer possibilities to cheat in an exam, and invigilation remains incredibly strict to prevent this from happening.Ā 

Scrapping exams permanently would also have implications for schools. These could be positive, on the one hand, especially from a financial perspective. Exams are expensive for schools, especially for subjects that are less popular, and without them schools could be afforded a greater budget – potentially vital as ten years of austerity have left them overstretched. If only GCSEs were scrapped, a question mark hangs over the schools that donā€™t have sixth forms, which would mean they would not offer any exams at all. University admissions would also potentially be affected without GCSEs, as universities will have no record of a studentā€™s exam performance if they have not taken any AS-Levels in Year 12.Ā 

With the government preoccupied by the vaccine rollout and decisions over lockdown measures, it is unlikely that any more radical reforms to the exams system will be implemented in the short to medium term, especially not when barely half a decade has passed since the last ones. Regardless, though scrapping A-Levels is harder to justify, the calls in particular for an end to GCSEs are unlikely to go away. Unless the school leaving age is lowered, which is also unlikely, there will always be an argument that they are no longer relevant and thus the stress they cause both pupils and teachers is unnecessary.Ā 

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Exams should be abolished speech

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Exams should be abolished

Exams – a word that many students dread to hear, a word that many students fear of, a word that seems to have the magical power to transform a happy and cheerful person into a frustrated and nervous wreck.

What are exams and should they been done away with entirely?

Exams are longer and more comprehensive versions of tests held every term. Initially created to monitor and check how a student was performing academically, they now have so much more pressure on them that students are burning the midnight oil to study for an exam. This results in some students becoming ill due to stress and lack of sleep. They have become more and more stressful and, even worse, a constriction to the ideal of learning.

It is a well known fact that when it comes to exams, students compete, not only with themselves, but with other students. They no longer want to see an increase in their knowledge, but want to beat other people to the top of the class. Even parents take exams as a race to see whose children are more intelligent.

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Students shouldn’t be judged on their performance on one day when they might be ill. The exams might not be completely representative of the student’s skills as everyone can have a bad day.

They are a poor method of assessment as they don’t reflect the use of knowledge in a practical environment. They don’t reflect how well you’ll be able to use your knowledge in real world occupations.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Many successful individuals are bad at exams but can perform well under other methods of assessment such as essays and oral presentations which still prepare students in coping with pressure. Some people would argue that exams are not a fair assessment of intelligence and aren’t favourable to those with poor memory skills, those who suffer under pressure, and those who get so nervous in such situations that they shut down in exams. It’s very easy to know content but to completely fail an exam because you are nervous. They aren’t an accurate representation of a student’s knowledge as some people are just better at taking exams than others. If you happen to mess up in your exams due to stress or panic then your goals can disintegrate leaving you unable to reach your full potential and having to settle for second best. SATs are taking the pleasure out of learning for many students and pressurising teachers to ‘teach the test’ rather than teaching for meaning, understanding, critical thinking and pleasure. Should schools become exam result factories or institutions which create well-rounded human beings? This problem must be addressed to reduce the number of pupils who suffer from forms of neurosis or depression due to this country’s narrow minded approach to education.

Those students cramming in last-minute study will have to put aside their social lives, have to sacrifice their sleep and will be under great pressure and tension. Coursework is also a problem when you have exams and should not collide with exam revision.

In humanity subjects such as History, Geography and social sciences, analysis and application of what has been learned is important and cannot be assessed through exams.

If exams were abolished then students would have more time to learn new material instead of being tested and revising. Testing can be performed in many other ways than a 3 hour exam which decides your fate. The vast majority of exams are based on the student’s ability to recall, in the space of 2 or 3 hours, details of a subject which is generally vast in its scope.

The vital point is that those students who enjoy greatest success are not necessarily those who have the best grasp of the subject, but most often those who have successfully anticipated the questions which will appear on the paper. This is, of course, not the only problem. Exams create unnecessary pressure and the poorly planned exam schedules only add to this. Who would deny that they would rather have 5 exams spread over 2 weeks rather than 5 exams in the space of 4 days, leaving little time to readjust?  Furthermore, exams aren’t adequate preparation for working life and test only your memory of a subject rather than all-round knowledge that properly conceived coursework can afford. It is undoubtedly important to test knowledge as well as all round skills, but this can be done much more fairly through methods such as essays and the appropriate use of coursework than through the traditional hellish world of end-of-year exams.

Fairer forms of assessment include more coursework, oral presentation, continuous assessments throughout the year and term papers as well as project work.

Education should be more about what is drawn out of people that what is drummed into them and this is not done through examinations.

In modern day education, familiarity with word processing, desktop publishing and powerpoint is a valuable asset and whilst essays and oral presentations allow the student to demonstrate these skills, traditional exams require students to write essays with a pen and paper – a very unnatural endeavour in the 21 st  century.

Are exams a valid form of assessment of simply a memory test? You decide.

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There are some attempts to include persuasive devices in this piece of writing and these points are creative and imaginative. The piece needs a very clear plan so points move fluidly from one to the next without repetition. 4 Stars

Exams should be abolished speech

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Should Exams be Abolished or Not? essay

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  • Educational Assessment

Five Reasons to Stop Giving Exams in Class

  • February 18, 2022
  • Donald A. Saucier, PhD, Noah D. Renken, and Ashley A. Schiffer

It is a common, but not universal practice to administer exams to students in class (e.g., Rovai, 2000). Traditionally, students come to class and take exams silently and independently without any resources. They have a time-limit that is usually the length of the class. The exams may be multiple-choice, matching, short answer, essay, etc., but even if there are multiple versions of the exam, all students basically do the same thing in the same way. We believe there are several compelling reasons why we may want to stop giving exams in class. We acknowledge that many instructors have valid reasons for giving exams in class (e.g., alternative assessment plans require time and effort, concerns about academic dishonesty; Cramp et al., 2019; Still & Still, 2015), and we urge instructors to use the practices that best fit their teaching philosophies and needs of their specific classes. However, we wish to address the limitations of doing so and offer five reasons to consider to stop giving exams in class. We believe these recommendations may increase the engagement of instructors and students, which may enhance the success of our teaching and learning (Saucier, 2019a; Saucier, Miller, Martens, & Jones, in press).

1. Exams in class are unduly stressful.

Exams given in class are stressful for students (e.g., Zeidner, 2010) and instructors (Madara & Namango, 2016). The instructor and/or teaching assistant proctor the exam, which includes patrolling the classroom in search of signs of students cheating. There is a time limit. Students may not be able to sit in their regular seats if more students take the exam than regularly attend class (which is particularly troubling given potential effects of environmental contexts on studentsā€™ exam scores; Van Der Wege & Barry, 2008). The exams are often high stakes, making students anxious about the outcome. And, while some may argue that giving exams in class prepares students for the stress of real life (e.g., Durning et al., 2016), it does not seem like the in-class exam experience readily generalizes other contexts. In real life, we often get to look up information from outside resources and double check it before we use it. While we support challenging our students, we believe this type of stress may not be directly helpful.

2. Exams in class are not equitable.

While exams in class are generally stressful, they do not impact all students in the same way. Individuals may experience differing levels of test anxiety (Zeidner, 2010), which may be affected by their experiences of stereotype threat (e.g., Danaher & Crandall, 2008), the imposter phenomenon (e.g., Kumar & Jagacinski, 2006), and/or their general struggles with anxiety (e.g., Zunhammer et al., 2013). The added pressure of the testing situation and the potential high stakes of the exam may cause some students to systematically underperform. Further, some students may have circumstances that require testing accommodations (e.g., extended test time, distraction-free environments). It may be stigmatizing for those students to be unable to take the exam with their classmates and they may feel their absences are conspicuous (e.g., Timmerman & Mulvihill, 2015). Simply put, the ways that we traditionally administer in-class exams may not be fair for everyone.

3. Exams in class are logistically difficult to administer.

The process of administering exams in class may be unnecessarily convoluted. The physical act of passing out exams, particularly if there is more than one form of the exam, is difficult and time-consuming. If the class is large, some students may get their exams several minutes earlier than other students and thus have the advantage of having more time to take their exams. Students who come late may disturb their classmates and may not finish on time. Similarly, students who finish early may distract those who are still working. Proctoring the exam to monitor signs of academic dishonesty and to maintain exam security is a difficult and imperfect process. The subjective experience for instructors and teaching assistants who proctor the exams is aversive. Personally, we are possibly more anxious than our students when we administer exams in class, as we watch them silently and intently, and both worry about cheating and that our students will not do well.

4. Exams in class are not empathetic.

We believe that in class exams are not empathetic, student-focused, or inclusive. We have discussed areas of inequity above, but we also believe in-class exams traditionally do not provide the support or understanding of our studentsā€™ potential personal and academic challenges that allow them to successfully demonstrate their learning. Additionally, in-class exams often fail to provide students with opportunities for personalization or creativity. We believe that in-class exams often do not achieve the goals set forth by inclusive teaching philosophies (Lawrie et al., 2017) and empathetic course design perspectives (Engage the Sage, 2021).

5. Exams in class are not fun.

We acknowledge some students do enjoy taking exams (admittedly, one of us loved to take exams as a student), but many do not. When our students tell us about the most meaningful things they did in our classes, they do not talk about exams (nor do we when looking back at our experiences as students). Instead, our students tell us about activities, projects, missions, creative products, and research studies. These are the fun and more meaningful ways that students demonstrate and apply their learning. We fear traditional in-class exams may take the meaning out of the wonderful things we teach and learn and our classes.

What should we do?

We have provided five reasons why we should consider not giving exams in class. For some instructors, exams may still be necessary.  If so, consider redesigning the exam experience to at least partially resolve some of these issues. For instance, you could permit your students to take them when and where they want during a predetermined time span (e.g., online via your institutionā€™s learning management system). Moreover, allowing your students to use resources like their textbooks and class notes may ease test anxiety (e.g., Parsons, 2008) while helping them provide deeper answers to the questions (e.g., Green et al., 2016). This may also alleviate issues of academic honestyā€”it is not cheating to use these materials if you allow them to. Another option would be to have your students write and take their own exams (i.e., ā€œExams By Youā€; Saucier, Schiffer, & Jones, under review). At the very least, consider lowering the stakes of your exams so that one assessment does not have an exaggerated impact on your studentsā€™ overall semester grade.

But maybe we donā€™t need to use exams at all. We would rather infuse empathy into our classes (Engage the Sage, 2021) and bring PEACE (Preparation, Expertise, Authenticity, Caring, Engagement; Saucier, 2019b; Saucier & Jones, 2020) to our students, and perhaps we can offer professional development to our colleagues to help them do so (Saucier, Jones, Renken, & Schiffer, in press). Maybe we can focus our assessments on allowing our students to demonstrate their learning in ways that are applicable to (and fulfilling for) them. We can provide our students with the opportunity to apply the information in more sophisticated ways than mere memorization. We can empower them to demonstrate their learning through projects, papers, videos they create, podcasts they record, and other creative products. We can provide them with guidelines and rubrics to support them. From our own experience, we have been more excited to get the products of these projects than to grade monotonous exams. Everything we assign comes back to us. Let us allow our students to demonstrate their learning in ways that are less anxiety-provoking, more equitable and inclusive, less difficult to administer, more empathetic, and more fun. Using these ideas, we can make assessment more meaningful and more enjoyable for our students and for us.

Donald A. Saucier, PhD (2001, University of Vermont) is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar and professor of psychological sciences at Kansas State University. Saucier has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Midwestern Psychological Association. His awards and honors include the University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Teaching Resource Prize. Saucier is also the faculty associate director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Kansas State University and offers a YouTube channel called ā€œEngage the Sageā€ that describes his teaching philosophy, practices, and experiences.

Ashley A. Schiffer is also a doctoral student in the department of psychological sciences at Kansas State University. Her research often pertains to morality in relation to masculine honor ideology and/or military settings. She also works at Kansas Stateā€™s Teaching and Learning Center with Saucier and Renken to promote teaching excellence and contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Noah D. Renken is a doctoral student in the department of psychological sciences at Kansas State University. His research interests center on individual difference factors related to expressions of prejudice. Renken’s recent work has examined masculine honor ideology and the manifestation of attitudes towards stigmatized events (e.g., sexual violence, trauma). Noah also works in the Teaching and Learning Center at Kansas State University, where he collaborates with Saucier on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects.

Cramp, J., Medlin, J. F., Lake, P., & Sharp, C. (2019). Lessons learned from implementing              remotely invigilated online exams. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice ,      16(1), 10.

Danaher, K., & Crandall, C. S. (2008). Stereotype threat in applied settings re-examined. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38 (6), 1639-1655. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00362.x

Durning, S. J., Dong, T., Ratcliffe, T., Schuwirth, L., Artino, A. R., Boulet, J. R., & Eva, K. (2016). Comparing open-book and closed-book examinations: a systematic review. Academic Medicine , 91(4), 583-599.

Engage the Sage. (2021). Engage the sage: The empathetic course design perspective [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/-79FHyNd128

Green, S. G., Ferrante, C. J., & Heppard, K. A. (2016). Using open-book exams to enhance student learning, performance, and motivation. Journal of Effective Teaching , 16(1), 19-35.

Kumar, S., & Jagacinski, C. M. (2006). Imposters have goals too: The imposter phenomenon and its relationship to achievement goal theory. Personality and Individual differences, 40 (1), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.05.014

Lawrie, G., Marquis, E., Fuller, E., Newman, T., Qiu, M., Nomikoudis, M., … & Van Dam, L. (2017). Moving towards inclusive learning and teaching: A synthesis of recent literature. Teaching & learning inquiry , 5(1), 9-21.

Madara, D. S., & Namango, S. S. (2016). Faculty Perceptions on Cheating in Exams in Undergraduate Engineering. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(30), 70-86.

Parsons, D. (2008). Is there an alternative to exams? Examination stress in engineering courses. International Journal of Engineering Education, 24 (6), 1111-1118.

Rovai, A. P. (2000). Online and traditional assessments: what is the difference?. The Internet and higher education, 3 (3), 141-151.

Saucier, D. A. (2019a). ā€œHaving the time of my lifeā€: The trickle-down model of self and student engagement. ACUECommunity. https://community.acue.org/blog/having-the-time-of-my-life-the-trickle-down-model-of-self-and-student-engagement/

Saucier, D. A. (2019b). Bringing PEACE to the classroom. Faculty Focus: Effective Teaching Strategies, Philosophy of Teaching. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/bringing-peace-to-the-classroom/

Saucier, D. A., & Jones, T. L. (2020). Leading our classes through times of crisis with engagement and PEACE. Faculty Focus: Online Education, Philosophy of Teaching. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/leading-our-classes-through-times-of-crisis-with-engagement-and-peace/

Saucier, D. A., Jones, T. L., Renken, N. D., & Schiffer, A. A. (in press). Professional development of faculty and graduate students in teaching. Journal on Centers for Teaching and Learning.

Saucier, D. A., Miller, S. S., Martens, A. L., & Jones, T. L. (in press). Trickle down engagement: Effects of perceived teacher and student engagement on learning outcomes. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Saucier, D. A., Schiffer, A. A., & Jones, T. L. (under review). ā€œExams By Youā€: Having students write and complete their own exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching of Psychology.

Still, M. L., & Still, J. D. (2015). Contrasting traditional in-class exams with frequent online testing. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology , 4(2), 30.

Timmerman, L. C., & Mulvihill, T. M. (2015). Accommodations in the college setting: The perspectives of students living with disabilities. Qualitative Report, 20 (10).

Van Der Wege, M., & Barry, L. A. (2008). Potential perils of changing environmental context on examination scores. College Teaching, 56 (3), 173-176.

Zeidner, M. (2010). Test anxiety. The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology .   https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0984

Zunhammer, M., Eberle, H., Eichhammer, P., & Busch, V. (2013). Somatic symptoms evoked by exam stress in university students: the role of alexithymia, neuroticism, anxiety and depression. PloS one, 8 (12), e84911. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084911

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Why Standardized Testing Needs To Be Abolished

ā€œIf my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldnā€™t be here. I guarantee you that.ā€ ā€” Michelle Obama

The amount of time students spend taking standardized tests during school has grown significantly in recent years. Americaā€™s youth are required to give up valuable class time to take federally-mandated assessments that are used to compare them, their schools and their states to others. Standardized tests are generally multiple choice and focused mainly on English and math, though sometimes social studies and science are included in the tests, as well.

The point of standardized testing is to determine the average score of schools, states and the nation and to compare and contrast them. This is to see where help should be provided and to decide what should be done for America and its education system to progress.

Hand completing a multiple choice exam.

However, it is appropriate to consider whether all these tests are actually helping, if these assessments students must take so frequently really will help our nationā€™s educational systems and the students they serve to make progress.

Standardized testing started off with seemingly innocent intentions, but today it has grown destructive to Americaā€™s public education system. Big companies that create the tests wonā€™t stop making tests even though they cause harm in our school systems, because they profit and grow wealthy from those school systems using their tests.

According to evidence, one of the many problems with the tests is that the tests, for one, have no evidence supporting the idea that they are in any way beneficial. Many consider the No Child Left Behind legislation to have lowered the national success rate in education. A study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that ā€œavailable evidence does not give strong support for the use of test-based incentives to improve education.ā€ Scholars agree that a single test score or a set of test scores donā€™t really measure what students have learned in a test or at school. The tests donā€™t cover many skills and leave out material.

Additionally, standardized tests do not accurately measure how much a student has learned or his or her aptitude. The tests are used solely for many important decisions, so if you have a score that is below excellent, there could be serious and unintended ramifications that were not even meant for you by those who designed the test.

Test scores are used for many decisions. For instance, they were widely used to label schools. Schools tagged as ā€œfailing” can diminish teacher and administrative pay, encourage parents to move their students to another school and ultimately lead to the schools’ closure. Standardized tests are also used to determine how effective teachers are, whether a school should be stripped of certain freedoms and be placed under purely Common Core standards, without electives or fun, and whether a school should lose funds. On the other hand, the schools that have better test results often receive rewards, such as more funding.

Schools spend great amounts time ā€” not to mention money ā€” to secure assessments and make sure there is no cheating, but students are more likely to cheat as more pressure is placed upon them to perform well.

Tests do not provide any insight to what should be done to improve the scores and to help the students succeed, so they serve no true purpose or benefit to schools or their students.

These tests generally do not contain enough material to really be able to evaluate oneā€™s strengths and weaknesses. According to the National Academy, the left-out information is most often ā€œthe portion of the curriculum that deals with higher levels of cognitive functioning and application of knowledge and skills.ā€

Standardized testing leads to less time learning, a more narrow curriculum and more time overall taking tests. This disrupts school routines, lessens time teaching and learning. Class time is spent on teaching to the test, practice tests and learning test-taking strategies.

The tests have been said many times to stifle creative thinking, to fail to effectively measure the achievement gap between social groups, and to demean oneā€™s love of learning and self-confidence.

Schools spend great amounts time ā€” not to mention money ā€” to secure assessments and to make sure there is no cheating, but students are more likely to cheat as stakes rise and as more pressure is placed upon them to perform well.

Evaluations of teachers and decisions to close schools that perform poorly use test scores as the main source of judgement. Schools that receive budget cuts from the government based on test results are forced into firing teachers, raising class sizes, and losing programs of value. This process is harmful, but unfair decisions based on test scores alone continue to be made.

A proposed bill in the recently concluded state legislative session, House Bill 2730 , would have restricted standardized testing in public school, a critical step in the right direction for education in Hawaii. The bill would have limited ā€œpublic school student participation in standardized tests, prohibit(ed) the use of standardized tests scores for evaluation purposes, authorize(d) standardized testing exemptions, and require(d) the Board of Education to provide notice of the right to opt out of standardized testing.ā€

Unfortunately, the bill was killed after passing only one reading. Why?

Restraints on these federally mandated assessments is necessary for Hawaii and our entire nation to move back up on international rankings of student knowledge and application.

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Blog post ā€“ Should we ban final exams?

Hassan Khosravi

For centuries, exams have played a central role in assessing student competencies. However, as the higher education landscape changes, there has been an increasing divide between educational practitioners about the benefits and drawbacks of exams.Ā 

In the first debate from UQā€™s Higher Ed Debate series , we examined this controversy and invited staff and students to present their views on the topic That we should ban final exams . We followed the common debate style of having two teams of three members, with one team supporting (affirmative) and one team opposing (negative) the topic.

Debate recording

Arguments fromĀ the 'affirmative' team ( )Arguments from the 'negative' team ( )

Debate summary

Affirmative team ā€“ arguing in favour of banning final exams.

The affirmative team argued that exams under the status quo are not an effective means of assessing student knowledge or employability as they prioritise breadth over depth, test studentsā€™ ability to recall facts rather than prepare them for future employment, assess students by their penmanship and ability to write neatly rather than deep knowledge and assess students under time pressure without access to world knowledge (i.e. Google search), which is rarely the case in the real world.

They further argued that exams provide a poor learning experience as they encourage cramming which is an ineffective way of studying, carry an excessively large weight of the final grade which introduces a harmful level of stress and anxiety, lack inclusivity as they unfairly disadvantage those who are neurodivergent or have disabilities and lack accountability in terms of quality of marking and providing feedback. In addition, they argued that proctoring online exams introduces data privacy concerns that students should not have to bear.Ā 

As a strategy to address concerns raised by the use of exams, they suggested the use of low-state, authentic, bite-size assessments that assess content at the end of each week or a short module.

Negative team ā€“ Arguing against banning final exams

The negative team responded that most of the points raised by the affirmative team relate to poorly developed exams rather than exams by nature. For example, it is possible to create open book exams that test your ability to authentically solve problems and apply knowledge, use oral exams to test employability factors beyond recalling facts or use a digital assessment platform to avoid issues related to poor handwriting and to increase marking accountability and provide feedback. Additionally, they outlined the importance of testing breadth in relation to recall-based questions. They also argued that even though industry-specific knowledge is widely accessible, as the expert in a domain, you're expected to know the content when you meet with a client rather than having Google open in front of you to search for answers. They highlighted two benefits that exams carry over bite-sized assignments:

  • Final exams can critically assess your ability to apply knowledge from across all parts of the course rather than content related to a specific module.
  • Exams enable students to develop the ability to work under stress under tight timelines, which gives them an employability advantage.

The team further argued that the affirmative team failed to provide any evidence of why alternative assessments to exams are any better. For example, if their argument is that academics are creating poor exams, why would the quality of alternative assessments they make be any better? In terms of anxiety and stress, turning exams into bite-sized assignments means many more overlapping deadlines across courses for a student, which itself is a source of anxiety. Accountability of marking is also a problem with assignments as tutors might be under time pressure to read and provide feedback on a long essay with very little given time. The use of team-based assessments may disadvantage students that are stuck in a bad team or might give an unfair advantage to free-riders. Oral presentations may also introduce stress and are unscalable, plus they take up a lot of studentsā€™ contact time. Work-integrated learning may introduce overhead funding for travel and attire and raise fairness concerns as the quality of the experience may vary significantly depending on the placement.Ā 

Finally, they raised the important point of academic workload and viewing academics as a finite resource. Exams are a time-effective way of establishing how well a student has achieved learning outcomes, which have academic integrity embedded into them. While it is possible to replace them, alternatives would generally require significantly more time commitment, which maxed-out academics would find challenging to achieve.

Do you think final exams should be banned?

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All members of the UQ Teaching Community are welcome to contribute a blog to be published on the ITaLI website and shared in our UQ Teaching Community Update newsletter. Contact [email protected] to contribute or for more information.

Associate Professor Hassan Khosravi

  • Blog post ā€“ Am I over-assessing my students? Finding the bal...
  • UQ professor appointed to influential higher education board

Why we should abolish the university exam

should exams be banned short speech

Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University

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should exams be banned short speech

The time has come to abolish university examinations. Just because something has been around a long time thereā€™s no reason to assume itā€™s outdated. But in the case of exams that assumption would be right.

Weā€™ve all been through it. You sit down in a room for two or three hours and answer questions from memory. Now weā€™re wedded to the idea thatā€™s how you should test someoneā€™s knowledge.

But research shows that examinations donā€™t develop questioning, self sufficient learners. So why have universities, by and large, chosen to retain them?

The case for examinations

People deploy a number of arguments in defence of examinations: they represent a gold standard of assessment to combat grade inflation; they guarantee the requirements of professional bodies; they provide a sea wall against the rising tide of plagiarism.

These reasons have varying degrees of merit but none of them, in themselves, provide a complete defence of the examination system.

Itā€™s true that grades have apparently been improving for a few years now. As the content of degrees has remained relatively stable during that time I assume that degrees have not got easier but that it is easier to do well ā€“ and maybe the students simply work harder and do better.

But the improvement is really down to offering students alternatives to examinations. When tested in other ways students get better marks. So the ā€œgold standardā€ argument comes down to a choice to test a student in a way that depresses their capacity to get a high mark. I am not sure why any teacher would want to do that.

Highlighting that exams can ensure a common professional standard has some merit, but what is a university for if it is simply delivering the requirements of a third party?

The case that exams save us from academic malpractice has most merit, albeit as a counsel of despair. And is the problem of plagiarism really as big as people fear?

Most experienced university lecturers would agree that there seems to be more plagiarism around than there used to be. Whether this is because of improved detection via software like Turnitin or more malpractice is hard to tell, probably a bit of both.

A different era

We have to remember that students today face different pressures to those of previous generations. They have to balance study and work in ways that most of us didnā€™t.

They are entering a mass higher education system designed for an educated citizenship not an elite system for a small number of professionals, managers and intellectuals. Their schooling is different. They have computers.

Gen-Y doesnā€™t have a mystical relationship with the virtual world but it is probably true that the difference between physical and virtual reality, between face-to-face and mediated communication, is less marked for a 20 year old student than it is for a 50 year old professor.

One symptom of this blurring is different attitudes to the idea of originality. Itā€™s clear that many of our students genuinely donā€™t know when they are plagiarising because they donā€™t recognise originality as necessarily privileged.

OK, I know this looks like post-modern ideology but nothing could be further from the truth: what I am saying is based on my experience as a teacher.

Donā€™t be afraid of changing the culture

Can universities address all this? Can they guarantee standards without grade inflation? Can they encourage good study habits without using examinations as a policeman?

They can and do. Many parts of many universities already assess imaginatively and creatively and the world has not come to a standstill.

Much of our academic culture is driven by an anxiety-based conservatism. Students are not like academics: they work and achieve in different ways. We should celebrate this difference not fear it or try to compensate for it.

Students coming to university give us a great gift of trust: we should repay that trust by trusting and giving the opportunity to develop the knowledge, the skills and the opportunity to excel. Scrapping examinations is just one step towards that.

Should universities abolish exams? Leave your comments below.

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English Essay on ā€œShould Exams be Abolished?ā€ English Essay-Paragraph-Speech for Class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 CBSE Students and competitive Examination.

Should Exams be Abolished?

The word ‘examination is sufficient to send shivers down the spine of most students, Most students dread examination and would do anything to escape it.

The detractors feel that the examination system in India is obsolete and outdated. It tests only the ability of the students to ‘mug’ up and not assimilate whatever he has learnt. This, the student is expected to reproduce during exams. There is little emphasis on application of the knowledge that the student is exposed to.

For most students, exams produce unbearable stress. The fear of failure goads them on to resort to unfair means and unscrupulous ways to do well. Students cheat intimidate the invigilators or use other such means to do well. In doing all this, the entire purpose of the examination is nullified. Failure in the examination can sometimes result in drastic measures like suicide by the student who fails in the exam as well as fails to meet the expectations of teachers and parents.

Besides, a three-hour examination sets very narrow parameters to test the real worth of a student. The examinee may not perform well, owing to ill-health or some other factor, but on the result of his examination, depends his destiny. Yet, a lot of emphasis is placed on the results of various exams.

Sometimes, examination results are tampered with or question paper leak out or can be ‘bought’ in connivance with the person in charge. Under all these circumstances, the credibility of examination stands to be questioned.

The supporters of the examination system feel that exams are indispensable. They help to test objectively the preparedness of a student. They nurture his ability to work systematically. They provide an incentive to strive for excellence. Perhaps, they are the only way one can gauge the ability of a student to assimilate whatever knowledge he is exposed to. Examinations prevent the students from becoming complacent and keeps them on their toes.

However, we cannot overlook the lacunae in the present-day system of examination. Its high time, some ingenuity is introduced to make the examination system more reliable-and foolproof.

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Philadelphia wonā€™t use test scores for admissions to selective schools for 2022-23

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should exams be banned short speech

SHOUT 2021: Why should we have examinations in schools?

TESTING TIME: School examinations in progress. Picture: Shutterstock

Why should we have examinations in schools?

There has been ongoing national debate proposing examinations should be banned in schools. However, for students, exams have been a key part of our lives, tests our skill and dedication towards our education. So why should we throw this away?

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Exams can help your parents and teachers learn more about your study and give you the clearest results about how well you did.

My first point is we should never ban examinations because the exams can help you learn better.

Examinations are a vital part of the school system, they are undeniably important to the grading of our students, ranking them in their specialty whether that be maths, information technology and even construction.

Exams are happening at every end of the semester during our school study life, the exam score helps us to learn how well we have done during the past period and tells us where or which subject we need to improve. The teachers could help you better by illustrating your exam results and give you clearer instructions through teaching and class. Your parents can also see how well you did last semester and it lets them know should you keep studying or not, which could make your life easier and faster.

Finally, you also can see your favourite and best subjects through the exam process to help you find your interest and make a plan for your future.

So why should we ban school examinations? We have other ways to solve these kinds of problems without just saying no, let's ban it. Instead say, Think Big, people are the future of education.

The pressure and competition that comes from the exams will make us improve better and quicker

My second point is exams can strengthen your heart's ability to mature so that you have a stronger resistance to pressure than others, which is a necessary skill in your future work and life.

At the same time, the exam can also exercise your ability to improvise and strain, as well as your endurance. It lets you have a stronger mental quality and more calm thinking ability than others when encountering difficulties or unexpected situations. As many people say, the final exam will bring us pressure and competition, but at the same time, pressure is also motivation, just like a steam engine. Pressure will make you have more motivation to study, let you have more motivation when competing with others to achieve higher goals.

Finally, as an old saying says, it has stood the test of time. The examination has been around for over 150 years and is widespread in our world and responsible for creating professionals in every skill imaginable in the sciences, construction, law, hospitality and so much more. They are working so why fix a working clock if it isn't broken.

If we throw away examinations, entire sections of the school curriculum will have to be completely overhauled. Well, an overhaul might be good until you think of the people it will affect. This kind of re-education is done throughout the summer holidays so it would throw current educators and students into disarray. This would have to cause schools to choose one of two options; they have to adapt to losing their gold standard, teaching their students as they poke around in the darkness or close their doors until this major task occurs.

This is people's lives and education that decries the United Nations universal declaration of human rights articles 26 "education shall be compulsory, higher education shall be equally accessible to all" and article 23.1 "everyone has the right to work". And for what, so working education can be "remodelled".

So, think big people: it's the future of education.

Education is important to all and the removal of examination directly revokes the human rights of man, the education of skills unable to be learnt in other circumstances and removes the creation of models for the future. We must think of a clever solution so remember to think big people, it's education.

  • Eric Yang writes for The Courier 's youth platform SHOUT.

Read more SHOUT 2021 here .

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Should homework be banned?

Social media has sparked into life about whether children should be given homework - should students be freed from this daily chore? Dr Gerald Letendre, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, investigates.

Weā€™ve all done it: pretended to leave an essay at home, or stayed up until 2am to finish a piece of coursework weā€™ve been ignoring for weeks. Homework, for some people, is seen as a chore thatā€™s ā€˜wrecking kidsā€™ or ā€˜killing parentsā€™, while others think it is an essential part of a well-rounded education. The problem is far from new: public debates about homework have been raging since at least the early-1900s, and recently spilled over into a Twitter feud between Gary Lineker and Piers Morgan.

Ironically, the conversation surrounding homework often ignores the scientific ā€˜homeworkā€™ that researchers have carried out. Many detailed studies have been conducted, and can guide parents, teachers and administrators to make sensible decisions about how much work should be completed by students outside of the classroom.

So why does homework stir up such strong emotions? One reason is that, by its very nature, it is an intrusion of schoolwork into family life. I carried out a study in 2005, and found that the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school, from nursery right up to the end of compulsory education, has greatly increased over the last century . This means that more of a childā€™s time is taken up with education, so family time is reduced. This increases pressure on the boundary between the family and the school.

Plus, the amount of homework that students receive appears to be increasing, especially in the early years when parents are keen for their children to play with friends and spend time with the family.

Finally, success in school has become increasingly important to success in life. Parents can use homework to promote, or exercise control over, their childā€™s academic trajectory, and hopefully ensure their future educational success. But this often leaves parents conflicted ā€“ they want their children to be successful in school, but they donā€™t want them to be stressed or upset because of an unmanageable workload.

FranƧois Hollande says homework is unfair, as it penalises children who have a difficult home environment Ā© Getty Images

However, the issue isnā€™t simply down to the opinions of parents, children and their teachers ā€“ governments also like to get involved. In the autumn of 2012, French president FranƧois Hollande hit world headlines after making a comment about banning homework, ostensibly because it promoted inequality. The Chinese government has also toyed with a ban, because of concerns about excessive academic pressure being put on children.

The problem is, some politicians and national administrators regard regulatory policy in education as a solution for a wide array of social, economic and political issues, perhaps without considering the consequences for students and parents.

Does homework work?

Homework seems to generally have a positive effect for high school students, according to an extensive range of empirical literature. For example, Duke Universityā€™s Prof Harris Cooper carried out a meta-analysis using data from US schools, covering a period from 1987 to 2003. He found that homework offered a general beneficial impact on test scores and improvements in attitude, with a greater effect seen in older students. But dig deeper into the issue and a complex set of factors quickly emerges, related to how much homework students do, and exactly how they feel about it.

In 2009, Prof Ulrich Trautwein and his team at the University of TĆ¼bingen found that in order to establish whether homework is having any effect, researchers must take into account the differences both between and within classes . For example, a teacher may assign a good deal of homework to a lower-level class, producing an association between more homework and lower levels of achievement. Yet, within the same class, individual students may vary significantly in how much homework improves their baseline performance. Plus, there is the fact that some students are simply more efficient at completing their homework than others, and it becomes quite difficult to pinpoint just what type of homework, and how much of it, will affect overall academic performance.

Over the last century, the amount of time that children and adolescents spend in school has greatly increased

Gender is also a major factor. For example, a study of US high school students carried out by Prof Gary Natriello in the 1980s revealed that girls devote more time to homework than boys, while a follow-up study found that US girls tend to spend more time on mathematics homework than boys. Another study, this time of African-American students in the US, found that eighth grade (ages 13-14) girls were more likely to successfully manage both their tasks and emotions around schoolwork, and were more likely to finish homework.

So why do girls seem to respond more positively to homework? One possible answer proposed by Eunsook Hong of the University of Nevada in 2011 is that teachers tend to rate girlsā€™ habits and attitudes towards work more favourably than boysā€™. This perception could potentially set up a positive feedback loop between teacher expectations and the childrenā€™s capacity for academic work based on gender, resulting in girls outperforming boys. All of this makes it particularly difficult to determine the extent to which homework is helping, though it is clear that simply increasing the time spent on assignments does not directly correspond to a universal increase in learning.

Can homework cause damage?

The lack of empirical data supporting homework in the early years of education, along with an emerging trend to assign more work to this age range, appears to be fuelling parental concerns about potential negative effects. But, aside from anecdotes of increased tension in the household, is there any evidence of this? Can doing too much homework actually damage children?

Evidence suggests extreme amounts of homework can indeed have serious effects on studentsā€™ health and well-being. A Chinese study carried out in 2010 found a link between excessive homework and sleep disruption: children who had less homework had better routines and more stable sleep schedules. A Canadian study carried out in 2015 by Isabelle Michaud found that high levels of homework were associated with a greater risk of obesity among boys, if they were already feeling stressed about school in general.

For useful revision guides and video clips to assist with learning, visit BBC Bitesize . This is a free online study resource for UK students from early years up to GCSEs and Scottish Highers.

It is also worth noting that too much homework can create negative effects that may undermine any positives. These negative consequences may not only affect the child, but also could also pile on the stress for the whole family, according to a recent study by Robert Pressman of the New England Centre for Pediatric Psychology. Parents were particularly affected when their perception of their own capacity to assist their children decreased.

What then, is the tipping point, and when does homework simply become too much for parents and children? Guidelines typically suggest that children in the first grade (six years old) should have no more that 10 minutes per night, and that this amount should increase by 10 minutes per school year. However, cultural norms may greatly affect what constitutes too much.

A study of children aged between 8 and 10 in Quebec defined high levels of homework as more than 30 minutes a night, but a study in China of children aged 5 to 11 deemed that two or more hours per night was excessive. It is therefore difficult to create a clear standard for what constitutes as too much homework, because cultural differences, school-related stress, and negative emotions within the family all appear to interact with how homework affects children.

Should we stop setting homework?

In my opinion, even though there are potential risks of negative effects, homework should not be banned. Small amounts, assigned with specific learning goals in mind and with proper parental support, can help to improve studentsā€™ performance. While some studies have generally found little evidence that homework has a positive effect on young children overall, a 2008 study by Norwegian researcher Marte RĆønning found that even some very young children do receive some benefit. So simply banning homework would mean that any particularly gifted or motivated pupils would not be able to benefit from increased study. However, at the earliest ages, very little homework should be assigned. The decisions about how much and what type are best left to teachers and parents.

As a parent, it is important to clarify what goals your childā€™s teacher has for homework assignments. Teachers can assign work for different reasons ā€“ as an academic drill to foster better study habits, and unfortunately, as a punishment. The goals for each assignment should be made clear, and should encourage positive engagement with academic routines.

Parents who play an active role in homework routines can help give their kids a more positive experience of learning Ā© Getty Images

Parents should inform the teachers of how long the homework is taking, as teachers often incorrectly estimate the amount of time needed to complete an assignment, and how it is affecting household routines. For young children, positive teacher support and feedback is critical in establishing a studentā€™s positive perception of homework and other academic routines. Teachers and parents need to be vigilant and ensure that homework routines do not start to generate patterns of negative interaction that erode studentsā€™ motivation.

Likewise, any positive effects of homework are dependent on several complex interactive factors, including the childā€™s personal motivation, the type of assignment, parental support and teacher goals. Creating an overarching policy to address every single situation is not realistic, and so homework policies tend to be fixated on the time the homework takes to complete. But rather than focusing on this, everyone would be better off if schools worked on fostering stronger communication between parents, teachers and students, allowing them to respond more sensitively to the childā€™s emotional and academic needs.

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Should Exam be Abolished?

Throughout all these years, people have been debating and discussing this idea yet exam haven't been done away with. In this modern world, exam has played an important role to the students, students were given test and examination since they get into kindergarten for education. Major popularity of Asian children had been educated that examination is the key to success in life . This forces children to think that getting good grades in examination, being enrolled in a prestigious university and having a decent job is the definition of what we called "successful".

Over-emphasis of examination in today's education system has cause a lot of tragedy, such as suicide among teenagers. Exam should be abolished because it is mentally and physically threatening the students, exam have caused a lot of suicide case among students and it makes students stressed out and have low confidence in themselves, exam is just a test of memorizing and it does not define any of the students.

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Examinations have brought a huge effect towards students' health and mental issues. It made children examination-conscious. Students find it hard to cope with because of the over-emphasis on exam results in the "pressure cooker environment" these days, says Rod Bristow (2015). Because of exam, parents expect and pressure too much on their kids, forcing them to attend lots of tuition classes after school which left them no relaxation and recreational activities. This causes students are always racing to catch up with their schedule from one subject to another, from one tuition center to another. Extra classes mean extra homework, students devote most of their time to their studies. Students who do not want to disappoint their parents tend to stress out and force themselves to study very hard. During exam eve, most of the students stay up late to study, some of them can't even sleep because they are too stressed.

Ann Pietrangelo (2017) said, "Human find it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep because of stress and stress also lead to insomnia." They are often in a state of tension and anxiety. When a child lives with toxic stress, the chances of having depression, involving in abuse, violence or smoking is greatly higher. Annu Rev Clin (1989) reported that stress often leads to a depressed life. This shows that too much pressure on the student lead to depression, students who could not take the stress anymore eventually took their own life at an early age. According to Jackie Burell (2018), rate of suicide case among teenagers had increased from years to years and suicide has become the second most common reason of death among students.

Exam should be abolished because it is unfair. Advanced technology these days allow students to cheat in exams easily. Students could try every trick to cheat in the exam to get a good result. Students who cheated without getting caught could get good grades effortlessly while the others have to squeeze their brain juice to get good grades. If anyone who cheated can get good grades, then why do we still have exam in the education system? Then, there are students who have done well mainly because they have spotted the right questions. Such students have shown no consistency in their studies but have resulted in spotting questions on the eve of their examinations. How then, can exams be a good criterion for accessing one's actual knowledge or capability.

There is also an over-emphasis on examinations in our education system. This sets in motion a rat-race, for our country has come to recognize that examinations are the passport to success in life. Thus, a student who fails in examination is discriminated against by a prospective employer. Many people have failed to understand that the same students who have done well in class tests have done badly in government examinations mainly because of severe illness or other disturbing events such as the death of someone in their family.

" People fail examination because of environment, social, economic factors not mainly because they are stupid, " said Benson Okello (2015). Besides that, schools nowadays categorized the students by looking into their results, those who do well would be placed in the first class and they will get special treatment like extra classes and attention from teachers while those who do badly in exam would just be ignored. Cher Hendrick (2013) made a scientific investigation and proved that the marking papers is subjective, for example: different teachers when working independently tend to assign widely varying marks to the same paper.

Exam is just a test of memorizing. Students should not be defined by examinations, just because they don't do well in exam does not mean they are stupid. People often defined people by looking into their results, students who do well would be praised while students who don't will be looked down and labelled as stupid. "Examination is not a true test for knowledge, it tests nothing but students' ability to memorize and fulfill the desires of examiners and limit the creativity of students," said by Benson Okello (2015).

Exam cannot test how intelligence is a student because exam only require student to study what teacher teach and write according to the concept of the books. Just because they have good memory, does not mean that they are brilliant. Most of the students will only remember things they studied for a short period of time and once the exam is over, they will forget everything they memorized. Anjum Khan (2017) said, "Exam questions that are only based on the school syllabus has actually no direct relationship with the real life situations which students face in everyday life." The element of fear or shame is also put in the students who do badly in their examinations. If they do badly, they are condemned. Students like these, who face such condemnation, may develop a hatred towards their studies.

Some may even resort to disastrous actions. Furthermore, young children who should be engaged in creative and healthy activities are all the time forced to confine themselves to their books and lessons. Young children suffering from anxiety nowadays because they are being sent to school at a tender age and this tackle exam stress reported by Anushka Asthana(2007). What is even appalling is that children are exposed to examinations at a very tender age when they do not know much about the significance of examinations.

Exam should be abolished because intelligent cannot be defined by result, exam is just a test of testing students' ability to memorize things. Peter Tait (2018) says that by defining intelligence through examination, we have lose a lot of talented people. Exam is unfair to those students who work hard but still couldn't achieve good grades while the others achieve easily because they have good memory or they cheated but does not get caught. Exam also become the weapon of parents to show off their kid's result to their friends or relatives. Some of the parents compare their kid's results to the other kids and end up putting their kids into a state of depression. In conclusion, exam should be abolished because putting students into a classroom for hours just to complete sheets of paper does not define who we are and who we are to be in the future.

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Education Secretary: Standardized Tests Should No Longer Be a ā€˜Hammerā€™

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Standardized tests should be used as ā€œa flashlightā€ on what works in education not as ā€œa hammerā€ to force outcomes, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during a speech last week.

The statement reflects a shift in thinking since annual testing became federal law more than 20 years ago, and it echoes past comments from Cardona, who warned states against using 2022 NAEP scores punitively when they showed steep drops in reading and math in September.

But federal policies stemming from the two-decade-old No Child Left Behind Act and its successor, the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, make it difficult for states to use standardized tests in any other way, policy experts say. And despite changing attitudes, thereā€™s little indication that the nationā€™s schools will move away from the current form of test-based accountability anytime soon.

ā€œIt doesnā€™t matter what the sentiment is,ā€ said Jack Schneider, an education professor and policy analyst at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell who is also an advocate for including alternative measures like school climate, teacher ability, and school resources in accountability policies. ā€œThe law is structured so that it really isnā€™t much of a flashlight.ā€

Cardona did not announce any new testing-related policies or plans for the Education Department in his Jan. 24 speech to educators , so itā€™s unclear if the agency plans to address concerns about test-based accountability through grants, waivers, or rulemaking. The department hasnā€™t announced any plans to revise standardized testing policy.

Still, his words reflect ever-changing opinions about standardized tests and what role they should play in evaluating school performance.

ā€œHeā€™s trying to bridge two eras,ā€ Schneider said. ā€œRight now, we are still very much in the era of test-based accountability because thatā€™s the law. He also recognizes thatā€™s not going to persuade very many people for much longer as a mechanism for school improvement.ā€

The lasting impact of No Child Left Behind

The debate over school accountability and standardized testing has been going on for over half a century, said Daniel Koretz, an education professor at Harvard University who has dedicated his research to high-stakes testing.

The original designers of standardized tests envisioned the tests as a way to measure individual studentsā€™ performance, not as an aggregate measure of schoolsā€™ performance, Koretz said.

They ā€œwere adamant that these tests cannot provide a complete measure of what we care about, what our goals of education are,ā€ he said. ā€œTheyā€™re necessarily incomplete.ā€

Despite that original intention, states and the federal government found standardized tests to be an efficient way to determine whether schools were performing to standards. And test proponents have said theyā€™re necessary for ensuring English learners, students with disabilities, students of color, and low-income students donā€™t fall behind.

The governmentā€™s role in using tests to evaluate schoolsā€”rather than individual studentsā€”was solidified when former President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002.

President George W. Bush, left, participates in the swearing-in ceremony for the Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, center, at the U.S. Dept. of Education on Jan. 31, 2005 in Washington. On the far right holding a bible is her husband Robert Spellings.

The law, which had bipartisan backing and functioned as an update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, required states to test students in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school with a goal of bringing them all to a state-determined level of proficiency by the 2013-14 school year.

It also established sanctions for schools that failed to stay on track and make ā€œadequate yearly progressā€ with test scores. The law gave statesā€”among other measuresā€”the power to shut down schools that missed achievement targets several years in a row. Waivers to the law during the Obama administration loosened some of these rules but also required states to set up systems to evaluate teachers in part based on student test performance.

ā€œThat enormously ramped up the pressure, particularly in low-achieving schools,ā€ Koretz said. ā€œAt that point, teachers really had no choice. They really could either fail, cut corners, or cheat.ā€

The law was later reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 , which loosened the federal governmentā€™s role in K-12 schools, removed requirements that states evaluate teacher performance based on student outcomes, and gave states power to decide what should happen to schools that miss performance targets.

But the law maintained the standardized testing requirements established in NCLB.

ā€œThe heart of NCLB, which is test-based accountability, remains in place,ā€ Schneider said.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona speaks with the press after the education department's ā€œRaise the Bar: Lead the Worldā€ event in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2023.

Advocating for a balanced approach

Some who oppose test-based accountability arenā€™t against standardized tests themselves. Large-scale standardized tests are useful in measuring how students in a certain state or across the country are performing compared to their peers.

But they are also limited. Critics say they offer only a snapshot of a studentā€™s understanding of core subjects, making it difficult to determine whether a student performed poorly because they werenā€™t taught the material or because of outside factors like their mood, health, or home life.

Instead, testing experts say theyā€™d like to see a more balanced approach to standardized tests. That means having more coherence among the large number of state and national assessments so they build off each other and can better help inform instruction and curriculum, said Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment, a nonprofit focused on improving assessment and accountability practices.

It also means measuring studentsā€™ progress over time and the skills theyā€™ve acquired, not just changes in their scores from one test to another. Tests also need to provide feedback to teachers more quickly to be useful, Marion said.

ā€œI donā€™t care that [a student] went up six pointsā€”that might be good,ā€ Marion said. ā€œBut did she learn how to better organize her paragraphs, vary her sentence structure, things like that?ā€

States can help ease the burden of accountability on schools by using the more balanced approach, and some states have, Marion said. But unless there are changes to federal law there will always be pressure for schools to produce high test scores.

The political outlook

Cardonaā€™s message indicates a shifting perspective on the role standardized tests play in society, but not much has been done to actually change the federal law that lays out standardized testsā€™ role.

The Education Department could establish waivers, giving states more flexibility to create pilot projects to improve testing systems. And Congress could rewrite the law to put less of a focus on accountability.

But ultimately improvement would require more respect for education, Koretz said.

ā€œEducation has a very low status in this country,ā€ he said. ā€œA lot of policymakers donā€™t respect teachers or any other educators. They donā€™t trust them. So, who are you going to trust to go in and evaluate schools if you donā€™t trust educators?ā€

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Should Exams be Abolished or Not?

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Examinations should be banned. Essay for School Students.

Examinations should be banned.

Examinations should be banned.

School examinations are something which most students dread. Yet, there is hardly any educational system that does not set examinations.

Many feel that examinations should be banned because they test the students’ memory power rather than their analytical or reasoning powers. Such examinations require students only to memorize facts, regurgitate them during examinations and conveniently forget them soon after.

Passing examinations could also sometimes be a matter of luck. Lucky student who spots questions accurately will probably do better than one who just studies his books. Moreover, there are some students who perform better when they are not under pressure. These students may panic and perform poorly under examination conditions.

Though reasons for banning examinations may be many, there remains one basic explanation as to why examinations have not been abolished. That is, all educational systems need a standardized method of testing the students’ understanding of what they have learned. No one has thought of a better substitute in that respect. Whether examinations test a student’s memory power or analytical power depends very much on the type of questions asked. Therefore, there is no need to abolish examinations. Rather, examinations could be set such that they truly test the student’s understanding. Some even argue that the students’ ability to withstand pressure during examinations do reflect a certain form of capability.

Furthermore, students need examinations to act as a form of motivation to learn. If examinations were banned, many would become complacent and would not do their best.

In conclusion, it can be said that examinations should not be banned because of the need to assess a student’s ability.

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should exams be banned short speech

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Book Bans Donā€™t Surprise Me. Thatā€™s Why They Must Stop.

By Logan Richman ā€™25

In late July 2022, police kicked several people out of a monthly school board meeting.

Halfway through the marathon six-hour meeting , the vice chair of Floridaā€™s Miami-Dade County School Board, Steve Gallon III, had raised his voice from the dais, straining to get a word in as members of the public audience shouted at the nine-person board. Board member Luisa Santos reached for her mic to ask if a sergeant-at-arms could defuse the situation. The attendees were not upset over budget proposals, disciplinary issues, or coronavirus policies. 

They were upset over a book.

In an unparalleled, rapidly growing trend sweeping the United States, books are facing scrutiny at a pace not seen in decades. Throughout small towns, cities, and states, parents, lawmakers, activists, and school board members alike are taking aim at books they find unfavorable or undesirable, targeting the shelves of public libraries and classrooms.

An April 2022 report from PEN America , a Free Speech advocacy nonprofit, indexed over 1,000 unique books that have been banned since July 1, 2021, spanning 86 school districts across 26 states. PEN America and the American Library Association found that a large number of the challenged or banned titles are either by, or about, people of color and LBGTQ+ people. Equally alarming is how partisan the issue has become. And as if the situation could not become any worse, book burnings, a barbaric relic of the past, have risen across the country.

Why have book bans spread with such fervor and intensity? After taking a critical look at the trend, the answer to this question may seem clear ā€” book bannings, like countless other policy issues, are fueled by the cultural disputes ravaging the United States. But in reality, the answer is much more complex, and equally unsurprising.

Itā€™s Okay to Say Gay

Comprehensive Health Skills , the sexual health textbook that came under fire in Miami-Dade County, contains lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation, topics that certain parents argued were inappropriate for middle and high school students. After an extensive public hearing, the board voted 5-4 to reject the book, leaving Miami-Dade schools without a comprehensive health education curriculum for the 2022-23 academic year.

Board members had dealt with not only vocal pressure from community members, but also legal pressure from the Parental Rights in Education law , dubbed the ā€œDonā€™t Say Gayā€ bill by critics. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March 2022, the law bans sexual orientation and gender identity education in public classrooms for students in kindergarten through third grade. While the bill outlawed these aspects of health education for younger elementary school students, parents and Florida lawmakers have used its precedent to reject curriculum proposals and specific books for older students as well. Notably, opponents of the law said that its broad language could open the door for parents to sue if they believed inappropriate instruction was being given, even if their child was beyond third grade.

Of the 42 students and parents who spoke at the July 20 Miami-Dade school board meeting, 38 were adamant that the textbook should be approved for class. Many were high school students ā€” teenagers for whom the educational content in question was directly relevant. A week later, the school board reversed its decision in another 5-4 vote. Unfortunately, not every book meets this same fate. 

One book that has faced national criticism, legal action, and media attention is the graphic novel Gender Queer: a Memoir , written and illustrated by Maia Kobabe. Gender Queer details Kobabeā€™s experience from adolesence to adulthood, exploring sexuality and gender identity. After winning an Alex Award from the American Library Association in 2020, the book was increasingly added to public middle and high school libraries, and has thus faced an onslaught of attention. 

Parents and lawmakers opposed to titles like Gender Queer channel their ire into arguments that are neither blatantly homophobic nor transphobic. When the memoir was removed from libraries and schools in Texas, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, its alleged ā€œsexually explicitā€ nature was the primary reason. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) cited ā€œobscene and pornographicā€ scenes. Two illustrations that critics have latched onto depict Kobabe and a romantic partner experimenting with a strap-on sex toy, and Kobabe fantasizing about two men having sex. 

However, context, as always, is essential.

When staunch critics of Gender Queer spread images of those scenes or videos of performative public comments condemning the book, the illustrations are stripped of their context, tone, and intent. People who describe the book as ā€œpornographicā€ fail to recognize that Gender Queer lacks pornographyā€™s chief goal of stimulating erotic, rather than emotional, aesthetic, or artistic, feelings within the viewer. 

While public schools should prohibit the circulation of gratuitous pornography, Gender Queer is unequivocally neither gratuitous nor pornographic. And Kobabe ā€” an artist trying to share an emotional story about a personal journey with sexuality, gender identity, and relationships ā€” is facing a major Free Speech restriction.

The memoirā€™s first few pages clearly show that Kobabe is telling an educational story, one that resonates for young people exploring or questioning their own sexual and gender identity. A story that says it is okay not to identify as heterosexual and cisgender. A story with virtue.

In a sense, critics of Gender Queer have done something worse than silence Kobabe: they have distorted and demonized the authorā€™s words, fearful that childrenā€™s exposure to content that normalizes and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community is inherently corrupt and depraved, insisting on labeling it pornographic. These one-dimensional arguments deprive Kobabe of any artistic legitimacy and jump to extreme conclusions. Stripped of its platform and target audience, Gender Queer is having its impact sharply curtailed by those who are threatened by or fearful of its lessons being shared.

Dangerously Politicized

Beyond content concerns, book bans have been pursued as a political weapon to bolster the platform of elected officials. In campaigns across the country, candidates have capitalized on parentsā€™ worries to ultimately win votes.

In late October 2021, in the midst of a heated Virginia gubernatorial race between former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and Virginiaā€™s current Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), the Youngkin campaign circulated an ad featuring a mother in Fairfax County denouncing Beloved by Toni Morrison. The mother, Laura Murphy, said her ā€œheart sunkā€ when her son showed her his homework drawn from the book, as it was ā€œsome of the most explicit material you can imagine.ā€ 

But Murphyā€™s story predates the Youngkin campaign. Her crusade against Beloved began in the spring of 2012 .

Beloved is told from the perspective of a mother who, enslaved in the 19th century American South, is haunted by the death of her baby, a two-year-old girl she kills to protect from a lifetime in slavery. A complex, powerful, and haunting story based on true events , it reflects raw, accurate realities of life for enslaved people in the United States who suffered for generations. A Pulitzer-prize winner , regarded by many as a masterpiece, the book is integral to a number of mainstream high school English curricula, including the Advanced Placement English Literature course. 

While it has been challenged repeatedly since its publication , the current spate of book banning has only exacerbated public scrutiny of the novel. With intensely brutal and sexually violent passages, Beloved has alarmed many parents across the country, including Murphy, who independently tried to ban the book, first with the Fairfax County school board, and then with the Virginia Board of Education. This episode became only uglier when the Youngkin campaign shamelessly used Murphyā€™s story for political ammunition.

In the Youngkin ad, viewed over 1.3 million times on Twitter, there is no intellectual analysis of Belovedā€™s content and whether or not it is appropriate for public schools. There is no mention of established state policies that let students opt out of assigned materials. Instead, the ad stresses how McAuliffe vetoed a bill twice that required teachers to notify parents when their children were assigned books that contained sexually explicit content.

The ad capitalizes on a McAuliffe gubernatorial debate gaffe , accusing him of not believing parents should have a say in curricula, arguing that Youngkin ā€œlistensā€ and understands that ā€œparents matter.ā€ This kind of rhetoric fuels book bans across the country. The danger in this? Politicization encourages blame, conflict, and hyperbole. The desire to ban is not founded upon specific, contextual, intellectual knowledge about the work in question ā€” it is founded upon winning and keeping power.

A Fine Line

At what point does a book deserve to be banned? 

Are bans purely subjective? Or are there objective, near-universal, accepted standards for what constitutes art and should be protected as such? What makes a book so derided that it is burned, as seen in Georgia in 2019 and Tennessee in 2022?

When content is gratuitously sexual or violent, designed to stir up hate or dehumanize and abuse individuals or groups, it loses credibility or meaning, and becomes more widely regarded as bannable by public institutions. There is a fine line, though, and a seemingly subjective one at that, between what is gratuitous and what is art; what is debased and what is profound.

That fine line raises a question: what is the intention of an author or creative? What are they seeking to evoke? Understanding this is necessary in deciding whether or not to ban, and is the key to protecting people from harm, while upholding meritorious content and preserving education and Free Speech.

Disagreements about this intention are at the heart of book ban hysteria and demonstrate how this trend is a manifestation of broader cultural debates taking place across the nation. Further, the fact that book bans have become so politicized indicates that those pushing for bans generally seek some type of control, some type of actionable policy that would theoretically fashion safer educational environments.

As the country grapples with the growing pains of the information age, where knowledge is immediately available and social media noise is constant, public schools and libraries are a sort of sanctuary. They are local, reachable institutions: physical ā€” not digital ā€” incubators of knowledge where those who feel they lack a voice and political power can effect change. 

In this respect, the book-banning fervor does not surprise me. People across the political spectrum who seek to ban books may believe they are well-intentioned, protecting their communities or even seeking to right historical wrongs through censorship. But ultimately, while restricting a book may seem like an achievement in the short-term, extinguishing free expression and exposure to ideas on such a small scale will never shift culture at large, and only gives banned works more popularity. In reality, it is the free exchange of ideas that has the greatest capacity to shift culture. Censors fear such an exchange above all else.

Increasingly common concerns about our changing culture, becoming more accepting of not only individuals’ identities but also the ugly histories of our societies, institutions, and prejudices, have many feeling anxious that we are moving too quickly down an unstoppable path, where the ways of old will be rejected and forgotten. But we must continue down this path, not forgetting the past but instead learning from its lessons and preserving its good while confronting ā€” and righting ā€” centuries of missteps and abuses.

More students to be ā€˜hounded and silencedā€™ on campuses after free speech law abandoned

Academics call on Labour to rethink decision to suspend legislation that would have enshrined free speech on campuses in law

Education Minister Bridget Phillipson

Students and university staff willĀ continue toĀ be ā€œhounded, censured and silencedā€ after ministers abandoned plans to protect free speech onĀ campuses, academics have warned.

The Government has been accused of giving into cancel culture after Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, last month suspended legislation that would have enshrined free speech on campuses in law.Ā 

She was concerned that the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, which was introduced by the Conservatives, would have left students vulnerable to ā€œharm and appalling hate speechā€ while completing their studies.Ā 

More than 500 academics have called on her to rethink the decision in a letter, The Times reported.Ā 

They warned that a failure to act could lead to more staff and students being ā€œhounded, censured and silencedā€ for holding legitimate, legal views some may deem offensive.

Kathleen Stock, a feminist academic whose views on transgender rights have sparked protests on campuses, Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist, and historian Niall Ferguson are among those who have signed the letter.Ā 

More than 50 academics at the University of Oxford and 30 at Cambridge are also among the signatories. They include historians David Abulafia, who criticised Britainā€™s membership of the European Union, and Robert Tombs, who has campaigned against the censorship of historical texts in universities.Ā 

The letter stated: ā€œThe decision to halt (the act) appears to reflect the view, widespread among opponents, that there is no ā€˜free speech problemā€™ in UK universities. Nothing could be more false.

ā€œHundreds of academics and students have been hounded, censured, silenced or even sacked over the last 20 years for the expression of legal opinions.

ā€œThis state of affairs has serious consequences for all of us. The suppression of university research into the effects of puberty blockers facilitated one of the great medical scandals of our age, as the Cass Review makes clear.ā€

Government claims law risked intimidation of Jewish students

The academics cited a report published earlier this year by the Academic Freedom Index, which ranked the UK 66th in the global league table of academic freedom below Peru, Burkina Faso and Georgia.

They dispute claims that the law would have led to the intimidation of minorities such as Jewish students going unpunished and say their right to be free from harassment and hatred is already enshrined in law.Ā 

Edward Skidelsky, the director of the Committee for Academic Freedom and a lecturer in philosophy at Exeter University, said many academics were ā€œvery disappointedā€ by the decision to suspend the act.

ā€œThe act had broad support and now the kinds of cancel culture that weā€™ve seen in recent years will be allowed to carry on and academic and students will have no recourse to prevent it,ā€ he said.

Mr Ferguson added: ā€œThere is no good reason for the new Government to revoke this important piece of legislation. Free speech at universities should not be a partisan issue. I find it disturbing that a Labour Government should be against it.ā€

A government source told The Times: ā€œWe make no apology for pausing the Toriesā€™ hate speech charter, which would have allowed anti-Semites and holocaust deniers free rein on campuses.Ā 

ā€œUniversities already have obligations under the law to protect freedom of speech and we will hold institutions to them.Ā 

ā€œStudents should be challenged and face new ideas. Under this Government, thatā€™s what universities will be about.ā€

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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine keeping close eye on Belarus border as troops amass

Russia has launched several air attacks on Ukraine this week, costing Moscow a reported Ā£1.1bn. Meanwhile, Ukraine says it's keeping a close eye on its border with Belarus after a build-up of troops there in recent days.

Thursday 29 August 2024 18:18, UK

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  • Ukraine keeping close eye on Belarus border as troops amass  
  • Putin's attack on Ukraine in single day 'cost more than Ā£1bn'
  • Kyiv hit by third attack in four days as drone debris injures three
  • Ukraine heading 'closer and closer' to total blackout
  • Battlefield situation: Latest frontlines in maps
  • Watch: Who are Ukraine's secret resistance?
  • Your questions answered: Strategic consequences for Ukraine if Pokrovsk falls
  • Reporting by Mark Wyatt

We'll be back with more updates and analysis tomorrow, but before we go, here's a recap of the key developments that took place today:

  • Ukrainian shelling in Russia's Belgorod region killed one person and injured others, according to officials;
  • A fighter jet from Belarus attempted to shoot down a Russian drone that flew into the country's airspace this morning;
  • Russia's huge air attacks across Ukraine this week cost Moscow more than Ā£1bn, the UK representative to the UN said;
  • Ukraine said it was keeping a close eye on its border with Belarus after a build-up of troops there in recent days;
  • Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said fighting in Pokrovsk is "exceptionally tough";
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not forgive Russia "for a single destroyed Ukrainian life" as the country marked the Day of Remembrance of Defenders of Ukraine.

A military court in Moscow has placed Pavel Popov, a former deputy defence minister, in detention on suspicion of fraud in the latest of a string of corruption probes of officials tied to ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

The case against Popov, who has served in his role since 2013, is the third investigation into a senior defence official relating to construction work at Patriot Park - a military theme park near Moscow.

The war-themed tourist attraction near Moscow displays a vast collection of Russian and Soviet weaponry and offers visitors the chance to clamber on tanks and take part in combat simulations.

Investigators said Popov, beginning in 2021, had diverted various building materials from the park to his own country house for installation work.

Popov has been detained until 29 October.

He denies guilt, his lawyer told the RIA state news agency.

Popov joins at least a dozen officials who, since April, have been caught up in the biggest wave of corruption scandals to hit the Russian military and defence establishment in years.

In May, soon after the first arrests, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly removed Mr Shoigu as defence minister and replaced him with Andrei Belousov in what was widely seen as a move to ensure tighter management of Russia's vast defence budget.

Russian political commentators said the investigation into Popov was clearly linked to a broader anti-graft crackdown undertaken by Belousov against those with ties to Mr Shoigu.

A Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet was destroyed in a crash on Monday, a US defence official has said.

According to the official, the cause has not yet been determined - pilot error or mechanical failure.

It comes after Russia staged a missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Monday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that F-16 jets were used to repel the attack on Monday and showed good results.

He had announced earlier this month that Ukraine had started flying F-16s for operations within the country, confirming the long-awaited arrival of the US-made fighter jets which Ukraine has been pushing for since the start of the war.

Four nuclear power units at two different power plants in Ukraine were disconnected from the grid during the Russian attack on Monday, Ukraine's presidential office head, Andriy Yermak, reports.

In a statement on Telegram , Mr Yermak said power units at Rivne NPP, in northwest Ukraine, and South Ukrainian NPP in the south, had been disconnected.

What happened on Monday?

Russian forces unleashed 236 drones and missiles in a massive attack on Ukraine. 

Seven people were killed and 15 regions were struck, with explosions heard in the capital, Kyiv. 

Ukraine said hypersonic missiles were used in the assault.

Fighting in Pokrovsk is "exceptionally tough", Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi has said. 

Mr Syrskyi, who has spent several days on the eastern front, also said that Russia was throwing everything it could into its assaults, trying to break through Ukrainian defences.

"Fighting is exceptionally tough," he said, adding that Ukraine had to constantly use unorthodox methods to strengthen its positions.

For context : Russia's army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defence in the area. 

The region, which had a pre-war population of about 60,000, is one of Ukraine's main defensive strongholds.

Its capture would compromise Ukraine's defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.

Ukraine says it's keeping a close eye on its border with Belarus after a build-up of troops there in recent days.

Kyiv's foreign ministry accused Minsk last week of concentrating a "significant number of personnel" in the Gomel region near Ukraine's northern border "under the guise of exercises".

It swiftly warned Belarusian officials not to make "tragic mistakes under Moscow's pressure" and withdraw its forces.

The Institute for the Study of War said Belarus's troop deployment was likely intended to divert Ukrainian soldiers from other fronts.

It also assessed that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was "extremely unlikely to risk combat with Ukraine that could weaken his regime".

Speaking on television today, a spokesperson for Ukraine's border guard service said it had detected no immediate threats on the border, but that Ukrainian troops were keeping it constantly monitored.

"This is tens of kilometres from our border, at different points ā€“ different distances," said Andriy Demchenko.

"What is happening on the territory of Belarus is actively monitored by intelligence units, the ministry of defence and the state border service in order to understand how the situation is changing, how threatening it can be for Ukraine.

"So that all components of our defence forces, which strengthen this direction, have the opportunity to react in time to any actions."

Ukraine is calling on the civilian population in its eastern city of Pokrovsk to evacuate as Russian troops draw closer to its outskirts.

Readers have been sending in their questions to our senior correspondents and military experts for their take on what could happen next.

Today, Malcolm asks:

How serious is the situation in Pokrovsk? If the city falls to Russian forces, what are the strategic consequences for Ukraine?

Military analyst Sean Bell says...

It is very difficult to provide clarity over the tactical progress of the war given the relative paucity of detailed information about progress, challenges and opportunities.  

However, it appears likely that Vladimir Putin's near-term objective of his "special military operation" is to secure Crimea, the Donbas and the land bridge between the two areas.  

This summer, Russia's main effort appears to have been securing the final component of the Donbas, and despite the much-publicised casualty rate being suffered by Moscow's forces - more than 1,000 casualties a day - Russia continues to make slow but steady progress.  

Pokrovsk is a strategically important logistics and transport hub for Ukrainian forces in the region, and Russian forces are now reported to be only six miles away from the town, leading the Ukrainians to evacuate the civilian population.

The Russian president knows that it is very difficult to maintain momentum during the winter months, so he has perhaps 10 to 12 weeks available to achieve his objectives before the winter weather settles in.   

If Russian forces can seize Pokrovsk before the winter, it is possible that Mr Putin will indicate he is ready to negotiate an end to the conflict.  

Depending on the outcome of the forthcoming US presidential elections, that raises the prospect of Mr Putin being rewarded for his brutal invasion of Ukraine, which would have profound implications for global security.

Ukraine's invasion of Russia's Kursk region will soon enter its fourth week, with around 500 square miles of territory captured so far, according to the head of Kyiv's military.

Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Tuesday that around 100 settlements, including the town of Sudzha, were now under Ukraine's control.

In one of his evening addresses this week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said troops were still expanding their territory in the region.

Here, we look at some key images from the start of the invasion into Kursk.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine will not forgive Russia "for a single destroyed Ukrainian life" as the country marks the Day of Remembrance of Defenders of Ukraine.

The holiday marks the 10th anniversary of the battle of Ilovaisk, where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian troops as they began to withdraw from the encircled town.

"This was a planned, cynical Russian crime that Ukraine will never forget and will not leave unpunished," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel.

"Today, Ukraine honours the memory of all its defenders. All those who fought for our state, for Ukrainian independence and sacrificed the most precious thing ā€“ their lives.

"And we will not forgive Russia for a single destroyed Ukrainian life."

Ukraine was forced to disconnect several nuclear power units from the grid on Monday after Russia's widespread drone and missile attacks on the country.

Kyiv's mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency has said the attack was intended to paralyse the operation of the power generation facilities of Ukraine.

It added that the attacks posed a significant risk to the stable operation of nuclear facilities. 

As a result of the attack, three out of four power units of the Rivne nuclear power plant were disconnected from the grid, it said.

Another nuclear power plant, the South Ukrainian, was also forced to decrease its output "due to fluctuations in the national power grid".

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  2. National debate over parental rights and censorship enters local school board races

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  5. Should we do away with exams altogether? No, but we need to rethink

    Exams do have a purpose, but they shouldn't be used to assess the recall of meaningless facts.

  6. Five Reasons to Stop Giving Exams in Class

    They have a time-limit that is usually the length of the class. The exams may be multiple-choice, matching, short answer, essay, etc., but even if there are multiple versions of the exam, all students basically do the same thing in the same way. We believe there are several compelling reasons why we may want to stop giving exams in class.

  7. Why Standardized Testing Needs To Be Abolished

    Standardized testing leads to less time learning, a more narrow curriculum and more time overall taking tests. This disrupts school routines, lessens time teaching and learning. Class time is ...

  8. Blog post

    In the first debate from UQ's Higher Ed Debate series, we examined this controversy and invited staff and students to present their views on the topic That we should ban final exams. We followed the common debate style of having two teams of three members, with one team supporting (affirmative) and one team opposing (negative) the topic.

  9. Exams might be stressful, but they improve learning

    In recent weeks, students across high school and university classrooms have been breathing sighs of relief. Exams are officially over, and celebrations have begun. For many students, exams seem a ...

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    Again, standardized tests are a good measure of a student's achievement, the standardized tests and increased testing are a better college preparation, and the testing is not too stressful for students. Immediately, we need to call the United States Department of Education and tell them that standardized tests should be kept in schools. Sources.

  13. Debate Rages On: Should Exams Be Banned? Unpacking the Speech!

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  14. SHOUT 2021: Why should we have examinations in schools?

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  15. Should homework be banned?

    Homework is a controversial topic in education, but what does the science say? Explore the pros and cons of homework and its impact on students' well-being in this article from BBC Science Focus Magazine.

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  17. Education Secretary: Standardized Tests Should No Longer Be a 'Hammer'

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  18. Write a short speech of 150 to 200 words on 'should exams be ...

    Answer: A very good morning to all my teachers and my dear friends I am here to give a speech on 'should exams be abolished'. About every child hates exams and fear of it . Nowadays students are pressurized to score well in exams and it has become a main purpose of the life of a child. His whole childhood gets spoil in taking stress of exams ...

  19. Should Exams be Abolished or Not?

    So, those people who say that exams should not be abolished think of exams as a self test to see where the students are, and how good they do. I personally think that exams should be abolished. Because exams are stressful and they do not show real results of the student's hard work and mental ability.

  20. Examinations should be banned.

    Many feel that examinations should be banned because they test the students' memory power rather than their analytical or reasoning powers. Such examinations require students only to memorize facts, regurgitate them during examinations and conveniently forget them soon after.

  21. a short speech on exams should be banned

    A short speech on exams should be banned . See answers. Advertisement. sb33. Answer: School examinations are something which most students dread. Yet, there is hardly any educational system that does not set examinations. Many feel that examinations should be banned because they test the students' memory power rather than their analytical or ...

  22. write a short speech of 150 to 200 words on 'should exams be ...

    VIDEO ANSWER: There is a question about how to write a speech. We have to consider all the different principles of effective speech writing in order to write a speech here. We will start the speech with a very warm morning, a very warm morning to 1

  23. Book Bans Don't Surprise Me. That's Why They Must Stop

    An April 2022 report from PEN America, a Free Speech advocacy nonprofit, indexed over 1,000 unique books that have been banned since July 1, 2021, spanning 86 school districts across 26 states. PEN America and the American Library Association found that a large number of the challenged or banned titles are either by, or about, people of color ...

  24. More students to be 'hounded and silenced' on campuses after free

    More students to be 'hounded and silenced' on campuses after free speech law abandoned Academics call on Labour to rethink decision to suspend legislation that would have enshrined free speech ...

  25. Why Tim Walz's line about school lunch and banned books worked

    Three in 10 said that it should be available only to low-income students, though as reporters in Minnesota noted at the time of the free-lunch policy going into effect, this can often lead to ...

  26. Ukraine war latest: Ukraine keeping close eye on Belarus border as

    Russia has launched several air attacks on Ukraine this week, costing Moscow a reported Ā£1.1bn. Meanwhile, Ukraine says it's keeping a close eye on its border with Belarus after a build-up of ...