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Thread ID: 35737	2003-07-20 06:19:00	OT: Bursary	caffy (2665)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
161484	2003-07-21 10:40:00	As for the English thing: I don't think our NZ levels are dropping as my english department had a huge meeting approximately 2 weeks ago because they thought the standards were "way to out of reach" for the students. They were unsure as to whether any other their top achieving students in 6th form for the past 5 years could have achieved "Excellence" and a couple of the were scholarship achievers. I'm just hoping i can manage a Merit in formal writing so i can skip 7th form english for my Uni entrance. Begging on his knees Patryn	Patryn999 (3748)
161485	2003-07-21 20:05:00	I assumed that the standard of english was dropping, because quite a few of my teachers have told me that many students still hand in essays written in text language. 'Lk dis 4 eg' etc... I've also heard stories of those from other schools.	caffy (2665)
161486	2003-07-21 21:15:00	Hiya, lol i suck at english, except for the useful stuff i.e. formal writing and research (stuff that will be actually be of help). So last year for the essays (5th form NCEA) i just memorised them, took me 1/2 hour or something, total of 3 essays to remember.... but if david.memorise == essay { essay.mark = merit; } got excellece for 1 too, its not so much 'learning' about a book etc rather than memorising... - David	DangerousDave (697)
161487	2003-07-22 02:58:00	The specific knowledge you gain in high school is almost of secondary importance anyway. Who is really going to be grateful at the age of 35 that they critically reviewed Once Were Warriors in high school? I can honestly say the only thing of real value I learned in high school, was how to learn... And I think that is the percieved benefit of NCEA over bursary etc... By placing all the importance on a single exam, the incentive for students is not to learn the material, but simply to know the answers... two very different things, one of which will result in you gaining learning abilities... one of which simply means you have memorised another essay... Iain	Iain Walmsley (3372)
161488	2003-07-22 04:52:00	> I can honestly say the only thing of real value I learned in high school, was how to learn... You are spot on about that, Iain, and that is precisely what I keep telling my children when they whine about the "useless" things they are required to "learn". It is also the reason for all the homework pupils are given, in order to prepare them for tertiary study when they will need to find things out for themselves. The ability to teach children how to learn and motivate them to want to learn is what distinguishs a good teacher from the rest. Unfortunately that task becomes more difficult the older the pupils get.	Susan B (19)
161489	2003-07-22 05:33:00	I'd agree with that Susan. I certainly wish I knew how to learn.	-=JM=- (16)
161490	2003-07-22 06:18:00	Motivation, motivation, motivation to learn . That's what I needed!! Recently, we received our reports . But just before that, our principal requested an small interview with all the Year 13 students, to ask us how we were feeling about our subjects and school in general, and if we were statisfied with everything . When it was my turn, I said "no, i'm not satisfied, because I don't know how to get the most out of studying" . She was impressed, as I was the only one who mentioned that, and she agreed in some way - "teachers tell you to go home and study a particular topic, but they don't actually tell you how to study . I think that's a good point you have raised . " I also said that I felt I wasn't getting enough motivation to do well in school . Her reply to that was "Just think about your aims for next year, the courses you want to do at university . Work towards achieving the marks to get accepted into the course, or towards whatever you want to do next year . " I went home, and thought about it . It sounded really easy - you just basically think about it and 'visualise' you doing what you have aimed for, i . e . in university, doing the course of your choice etc . That's what I've been doing at the moment, and I've just recently finished a few assignments, and felt good about handing them in, knowing that a lot more motivation went into these assignments than my previous ones when I was un-motivated . Of course, I will probably have up's and down's when the stress hits me occaisonally :)	caffy (2665)
161491	2003-07-22 06:56:00	The problem as I see it with high schools today, is not the method by which they examine the material, but the material they offer in the first place. It is impossible to "motivate" someone. Motivation is essentially when someone makes the concious choice to do something, and if we could motivate each other, we would be making those choices for other people. What we can do is to foster an environment in which individuals motivate themselves - just as Susan was referring to the need to make kids want to learn. Ive been a student for the last 16 years now, and in certainly for me.. and more generally in the experiences I have had, the only thing that truely motivates someone to study something, is either the desire to know what is being taught, or if a concrete benefit can be percieved in knowing the material. ie a high school student may not want to study pure mathematics, but may having a desire to follow a career path that will require this knowledge. Unfortunately the subjects offered in most (the ones in the area I went to school at any rate) high schools, do not really fulfill either of these requirements. For example, the only benefit as I see it of English, is teaching people how to form critical opinions and express these in writing, however as the subject material used to teach this is inherently boring for a lot of students, they have no motivation to apply themselves enough to achieve the real benefits. I floated through high school, I had no difficulty with the material, but the subjects on offer were never of enough interest to motivate me to apply myself. We were always told that we needed to learn how to study because once we got to university we would see how easy they made things for us at high school. In truth, I have found university to be infinitely easier than high school, for the simple reason that the material is interesting enough that I WANT to know it. Thus I think the argument between examination methods is largely moot, as if someone knows the material, it doesnt matter what method you use, their knowledge will still show through. Any problems we have with fairness/unfairness etc of testing methods should really be refocused into reexamining what it is our high school students are being taught, and giving them a range of options such that they can select subjects of inherrent interest to them. Once our students want to know the information, then how we test them wont really matter. Today has been far too long :-/ Iain	Iain Walmsley (3372)
161492	2003-07-22 09:10:00	We have just been officially in assembly today that there will be a meeting sometime next week about what the school is providing us with, Cambridge-wise . So far, they are planning on taking the top 120/130 or so people who are interested in the courses . Gonna have to make a decision soon . . . what do you guys think, should I forget these NZ Secondary School Qualifications for the rest of my life, or should I be stuck in NZ (max . Oz) for tertiery education?	~~~~~ s y ~~~~~ (2054)
161493	2003-07-22 09:14:00	Sorry, should read > We have just been told officially during assembly today that > there will be a meeting sometime next week about what > the school is providing us with, Cambridge-wise. So... it CIE vs. NZQA, whoever persuades me to be better will benefit from one more skilled person :p :D	~~~~~ s y ~~~~~ (2054)
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