As an elementary student, I was not afraid of the test, be it short or long, surprised or not, because I listened to my teachers in class, did my homework and I was confident that I could answer most of the questions. What I hate was when the test given was so simple compared to what our teachers hinted us to study. For example, our Social Studies teacher would normally gave us 5 chapters to review and then gave a 20 item- multiple choice questions. It drove me mad because I felt I was short-changed probably because Social Studies was one of my favorite subjects and found studying the different regions of the Philippines interesting.
It was the reverse in high school. I found Social Studies class less interesting because I was poor in politics. I prayed not to be called to recite during class. It was because we were no longer remembering products and capitals. We were analyzing the socio-cultural and political systems of our country and I was poor in analysis. One short answer was not enough. You have to defend your argument. Surprisingly, I still got good grade.
Although I got good grades in Mathematics, Geometry was one branch that I was struggling. You’ve got it right! Because it involved analysis. I usually could not prove a theorem. No matter how hard I tried to study, I still could not get it. I managed to get an 85, though.
What I liked most in high school was Filipino. Oh, no! Not Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo but writing essays and short stories. My love of writing in the national language was developed in high school. I was chosen as associate editor of our school organ in Filipino. I also won an award in the Regional Secondary Schools Press Conference. Our school paper won the Best in News Writing in the national contest. I got Best in Journalism – Filipino during my graduation.
Getting good grades in elementary and high school was very important to me. Not only for my own satisfaction but also to the pride and happiness that they gave to my parents. High grades are testimonies that you studied hard. All your sacrifices and hard work had been rewarded. Getting high grades in high school was my primary goal because it was a way to free college education. Belonging to a poor family, my parents could not send me to college without scholarship. Because of the dedications that I committed to my studies, I was chosen as one of the recipients of the UP Experimental Democratization Students Scholarship (UPXDS) in 1977. Getting high grades in the University was very important to maintain my scholarship. I studied Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and graduated in 1982. And whether we like it or not, grades are one of the indicators of employability in the labor market.
During the course of my studies, I never had a failing grade but I got an "Incomplete" in Computer Studies. Again, you got it right. Because this subject involved analysis and I was so poor in that. As a result, I re-enrolled it one summer and got a 3. Whew!!! My only “tres”. I also got an ebb and flow grade in Algebra. My lowest marks happened when the subject matter involved word problem. Yes, you have got it right once more – analysis.
I shall be frustrated and less motivated if I got a failing grade in any subject especially when you did your utmost share in the learning process. You could blame the professor especially when he/she thought that all “iskolar ng bayan” were outright smart and left you on your own (which was always the case then, I could say).]
It seemed that I was really poor in analysis. I could solve mathematical problems when the equations were all set up but I usually did poorly when I have to set them up by myself. Well, I could say now that it was because my mind then was only at level 3 of Bloom’s taxonomy of learning as revised by Lorin Anderson(2000) as cited by Don Clark. My learning was only in the remembering, understanding and application stage.
Ultimately, at this stage of my learning process, grades are not that significant to me compared to my previous formal education. Although they will always give you some sort of pride and achievement, high grades are now measurements of how the teacher perceived you to have attained his/her learning goals rather than indicators of how much you learned.
Images from
1) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0hwlZ5uvv3v1mo6qJ56NoN_iMXEbA8p9nTN2tI1M4CBPo06_-Zuhs1uzhB2HDlMS8e-K6aByfBDpJN2HF8ijekaR9IOn9VjKy_lEt_X1P8ZYoPThubDGE5w1Yoz8fpWqPNE2vCIbo1re/s400/nclb-test-cartoon.png
2) http://math.pppst.com/banner_math_geometry_formulas.gif
3) http://blogs.themailbox.com/themailbox/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/report-card-clip.gif
4) http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/10246900/homepage/name/161183?type=sn
5) http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/id/bloom_taxonomy.jpg
6) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4znyXFQCYcdyGbuvBNAXza6Ub858KosIFjj2O6VRPXUz-usySzyhpSDdPttFFYOs3rcovDuNeP2B0pGdIiCOEncv8CbPcCanp2zbST0bNgKM3UGsdvXvB5P2-RFX7HQwgmpcBP7DQbs4/s400/Cartoon+Teacher.gif
References
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M. C. (2000). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.
The University of Lincoln. Educational assessment. In academic room. Retrieved on 21 September 2013 at http://www.academicroom.com/topics/what-is-educational-assessment
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