This is how it goes; the teacher hands out a sheet that outlines what you need to know to if you want to get 5/10, use two words.
If you want 6/10 give more content. For an 8/10 you will need to show that there is some mental processing going on. If you want a 10/10 you need to be able to show some originality.
If you hand it in late 10% will be deducted from your marks.
My daughter describes learning in school in a nut shell with the following words: "I have a box and I know what to put in it."
What's more, it seems that cheating is the norm: "Everyone is cheating and getting As. You're a fool if you don't. You'll be left in the dust!"
How does it work? "You get your paper and you stick it in the pencil case. No one is going to look in your pencil case. These are just the subjects you don't care about."
There you have it: "These are just the subjects you don't care about," says it all. If you don't care about the subject, what's the big problem if you cheat in order to pass into the next year? That makes sense to them. It makes perfect sense to me as well. The goal is to get into the next grade with good marks whether or not you deserve them. Here's why school doesn't mean education. Nobody cares about what is being taught. Why should they? It's someone else's interest; not theirs.
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One evening, at the dinner table where my youngest is studying for health test, my oldest (in grade 12 and at the same school) exclaims, "Did you know that this unit hasn't been changed since 1990? Since you were two! There is absolutely no accounting for the changes in awareness around issues like sexual orientation, gender etc. There is no context for learning this information."
How is this education? Information is useless without context.
