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New Zealand has sunk to a new low in modern education. A number of high school students have started a petition to not be failed on a national history exam as they did not understand the meaning of the word 'trivial'. For those not in the know, trivial means "of little value or importance" which aptly describes this petition given that it is being made by grade 13 high school students who by all rights should know the meaning of this word. More than 2400 people have signed the petition 'expressing their frustration with the exam question'. Student Logan Stadnyk claimed that he was "lucky" to have known what the word meant, as half his class didn't. "New Zealand History Teachers' Association chairman Graeme Ball has sided with the students calling the exam a 'little bit of a snafu'" but not providing an adequate answer as to why students in grade 13 would not understand a common English word.
Have the three Rs lost all meaning in schools? Are we failing our students? Or is this just another case of today's teens being snowflakes?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:48AM (7 children)
Are you speaking for the US, or for New Zealand, or for Zimbabwe, or for Brazil, or . . . .
We are kinda US centric here. The story is about New Zealand. TFS says grade 13 high school students, so I took the statement at it's face value. Maybe they've always had 13 years of schooling. Or, maybe they just tacked on kindergarden, and renumbered from there. Here, in the US, high school seniors are in grade 12. It appears that in New Zealand, high school seniors are in grade 13.
Any Zealanders want to set us straight?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @01:46AM (5 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Thirteen [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 18 2018, @02:10AM (1 child)
That didn't take very long. Are you a New Zealander?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @11:54AM
Same AC: no, I'm Oz. But the Tasman's not too big.
(Score: 2) by DaTrueDave on Sunday November 18 2018, @05:13AM (2 children)
Ah, so it's for people that can't earn their diploma in Year 12. Stupid kids and kids that had travel opportunities or other obligations?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:51AM
I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. Sometimes, scheduling just doesn't work out to the student's best advantage. I could have used a thirteenth year to get a couple more electives, and third year of chem. Had I done so, I would have taken another year of biology as well. That only accounts for half the day, so I may (or may not) have taken another English or lit course.
Years later, my brainy son could have put a thirteenth year to good use. He had all the prerequisites for college, but he would have taken the maths that he didn't fit in already.
One of my nephews complained of something similar when he was finishing high school, but I can't remember now what he was wanting to fit in.
A lot of that depends on the school that you attend, as well. For instance, if you go to a school that doesn't offer chem beyond 2nd year, or calc, or whatever, then that thirteenth year would do you little good. Then it would only be a make up year for incompletes and fails.
And, finally - there may be some kids who haven't yet reached the age of majority at the end of the 12th year. Might as well stay in school, if you can't get a decent job, right? That may vary by country - we don't see much of that in the US any more. Most schools just won't allow you to start 1st grade until you're six years and some months now. I was five years old when I started, and didn't turn 18 until days before graduation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:02PM
Actually an extra year for finishing high school can have great pedagogical* benefit.
A minor point - in this part of the world a diploma is a post secondary qualification.
*I use that word a lot, and it does mean what I think it means.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Sunday November 18 2018, @05:11AM
Here in Canada, some areas finish high school with grade 12 and other areas with grade 13. I think grade 13 is more voluntary but not sure as I only lived in areas that only went to grade 12.