Recently I got roped in by my current wife Kusum to correct 10th standard term papers for a Bangalore school. She is a volunteer teacher/ guide/ adviser/ bully/ help attached to the school as part of a support group Each One Teach One.
I cheerfully accepted the commission and entered a nightmare wonderland from which I hope to partially recover by unloading here the thoughts that crossed my mind as I went through the soul destroying task.
The subject was Social Science, incorporating Sociology, History, Geography and the like. There were sixty MCQs or multiple-choice questions.
A bit of background here. I was introduced to MCQs in 1960 when Punjab University set aside 20% marks in the school final exams for such questions. My batch was the first to get exposed to the newly adopted process. The concept, very patiently explained by my ancient and forbidding, but in retrospect middle aged and kindly, headmaster, was to change my life.
MCQs were meant to test not ability to memorise, as the excruciating mainstream testing and evaluation process did, but understanding of concepts, ideas, logic, context etc.
I embraced the new testing process with glee and gratitude. This great departure in testing was to later ease my admission to ISI.
During my years at ISI contributing to question banks and correcting MCQ papers helped me earn money for beer and movies, not catered for by my scholarship. Fifty years have gone by in the blink of an eye and now I get to see where we are today in terms of using MCQs as a testing tool.
No words can explain better than a few actual examples.
Critical knowledge in 2008 for the budding
Historian: Tantia Tope seized Kanpur in June 1857: a) 17 or b) 27
Adventurer: Albuquerque came to India: a) 1509 or b) 1510
Lawyer: Which Act came first: a) Minto-Morley or b) Pitts
Fundamentalist: The Arya Samaj was founded: a) 1874 or b) 1875
Educationist: The Mysore University was set-up: a) 1915 or b) 1916
Political Scientist: The HR Ministry was set-up: a) 1985 or b)1995
Banker: The Reserve Bank was set-up: a) 1935 or b) 1947
And gems for the future Statistician/Economist:
The number of industrial estates in India is about: a) 585 or b)586
The share of agricultural income in India is about: a) 35% or b)36%
Do note the marvellous use of the word “about” in questions which seeks discriminating precision in the answers.
Enough said.
I hope, dear reader, that you are going through life comfortably without the benefit of the stupendous knowledge the Indian education system is providing, and testing for. I have used actual questions and answers without needing to exaggerate to make a point. For better readability I have shown only two idiotic options whereas actually there are four equally stupefying ones for each question.
To be honest there are also five or six questions which actually test for meaningful knowledge or understanding. I should add that the test paper adheres to the typical Government style type-setting and layout. It is full of typographical errors. Alternate line mixing of English and Kannada versions of questions makes it unreadable even for people proficient in both languages. Three questions are mangled to the extent that all students have to be given free marks. And, finally, the evaluator is expected to go about her job without the benefit of a set of correct answers much less an evaluation template.
The whole idea of MCQs creation and evaluation has been stood firmly on its head. Spare a thought for the poor kid who got it wrong and will forever go about his business not knowing when her life could depend on the exact date of creation of The Central Warehousing Corporation. Or the one who got everything right but wishes she had spent her time learning about what actually happens at the Indian Institute of Science rather than memorising how many acres of land it occupies.
Finally to cap it all, this masterpiece of educational testing is not created by some semi-educated clerk in the education department but issues every semester in the name of the “Headmasters Association of Karnataka”. Cheers.
I cheerfully accepted the commission and entered a nightmare wonderland from which I hope to partially recover by unloading here the thoughts that crossed my mind as I went through the soul destroying task.
The subject was Social Science, incorporating Sociology, History, Geography and the like. There were sixty MCQs or multiple-choice questions.
A bit of background here. I was introduced to MCQs in 1960 when Punjab University set aside 20% marks in the school final exams for such questions. My batch was the first to get exposed to the newly adopted process. The concept, very patiently explained by my ancient and forbidding, but in retrospect middle aged and kindly, headmaster, was to change my life.
MCQs were meant to test not ability to memorise, as the excruciating mainstream testing and evaluation process did, but understanding of concepts, ideas, logic, context etc.
I embraced the new testing process with glee and gratitude. This great departure in testing was to later ease my admission to ISI.
During my years at ISI contributing to question banks and correcting MCQ papers helped me earn money for beer and movies, not catered for by my scholarship. Fifty years have gone by in the blink of an eye and now I get to see where we are today in terms of using MCQs as a testing tool.
No words can explain better than a few actual examples.
Critical knowledge in 2008 for the budding
Historian: Tantia Tope seized Kanpur in June 1857: a) 17 or b) 27
Adventurer: Albuquerque came to India: a) 1509 or b) 1510
Lawyer: Which Act came first: a) Minto-Morley or b) Pitts
Fundamentalist: The Arya Samaj was founded: a) 1874 or b) 1875
Educationist: The Mysore University was set-up: a) 1915 or b) 1916
Political Scientist: The HR Ministry was set-up: a) 1985 or b)1995
Banker: The Reserve Bank was set-up: a) 1935 or b) 1947
And gems for the future Statistician/Economist:
The number of industrial estates in India is about: a) 585 or b)586
The share of agricultural income in India is about: a) 35% or b)36%
Do note the marvellous use of the word “about” in questions which seeks discriminating precision in the answers.
Enough said.
I hope, dear reader, that you are going through life comfortably without the benefit of the stupendous knowledge the Indian education system is providing, and testing for. I have used actual questions and answers without needing to exaggerate to make a point. For better readability I have shown only two idiotic options whereas actually there are four equally stupefying ones for each question.
To be honest there are also five or six questions which actually test for meaningful knowledge or understanding. I should add that the test paper adheres to the typical Government style type-setting and layout. It is full of typographical errors. Alternate line mixing of English and Kannada versions of questions makes it unreadable even for people proficient in both languages. Three questions are mangled to the extent that all students have to be given free marks. And, finally, the evaluator is expected to go about her job without the benefit of a set of correct answers much less an evaluation template.
The whole idea of MCQs creation and evaluation has been stood firmly on its head. Spare a thought for the poor kid who got it wrong and will forever go about his business not knowing when her life could depend on the exact date of creation of The Central Warehousing Corporation. Or the one who got everything right but wishes she had spent her time learning about what actually happens at the Indian Institute of Science rather than memorising how many acres of land it occupies.
Finally to cap it all, this masterpiece of educational testing is not created by some semi-educated clerk in the education department but issues every semester in the name of the “Headmasters Association of Karnataka”. Cheers.
