{"id":25250,"date":"2012-09-04T09:55:39","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T13:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=25250"},"modified":"2012-09-04T09:55:39","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T13:55:39","slug":"education-system-status-quo-is-unacceptable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/09\/education-system-status-quo-is-unacceptable","title":{"rendered":"Education System Status Quo Is Unacceptable"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_22554\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22554\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22554\" title=\"exam-test\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/exam-test.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/exam-test.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/exam-test-150x112.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">exams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In The Tribune of August 28th Dr Ruthmae Sears of the University of South FLorida stated unequivocally in her Letter to the Editor that the BGCSE annual \u201cnational average\u201d is \u201cmerely an illusion&#8230;a poorly defined construct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She supports her thesis with a long discussion of how an arithmetic average is calculated in the real world. She did this&#8230;apparently&#8230;without knowing much about just how the BGCSE exam is structured. It appears that she has never examined the Testing &amp; Evaluation Section&#8217;s \u201cGrade Descriptor Manual\u201d nor a \u201cSyllabus\u201d for a specific subject.<\/p>\n<p>However, she concludes that the A, B, C, D, E, F, G and U grade levels ought to be \u201cbetter explained\u201d and \u201ca rubric for the letter grades ought to be provided\u201d. This is a valid observation.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at some specifics&#8230;like the BGCSE standards for mathematics.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 For an \u201cA\u201d grade the candidate should be able to \u201crelate a percentage to a multiplying factor and vice versa\u201d and to \u201cmanipulate algebraic equations \u2013 linear, simultaneous and quadratic\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 For a \u201cC\u201d grade the candidate should be able to \u201csolve simple simultaneous equations in two unknowns\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 For a \u201cG\u201d grade the candidate should be able to \u201cContinue a straightforward number sequence\u201d and \u201crecognize and name simple plane figures and common solid shapes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 For a \u201cU\u201d grade the candidate exhibits no substantive knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Writing an exam that tests to such standards and grading are extremely difficult tasks. And reporting those results in a meaningful way to Parliament is a true challenge for a Minister of Education.<\/p>\n<p>But is the BGCSE exam \u201cmerely an illusion\u201d or a \u201csilly thing\u201d? NO&#8230;it is not.<\/p>\n<p>One has to look at a number of things \u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The BGCSE exam has been a rough and imperfect measure of academic achievement that has consistently reported \u201cdismal\u201d scores.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 At the same time the Public School system has produced similar dismal results as measured in the number of school leavers who do not earn a diploma on leaving school or who have already dropped out&#8230;and&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Private industry employers have interviewed those school leavers and report similar results. For years they have sought a meaningful audience with Government and an upgrade in the quality of Bahamian labour.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is that the status quo is unacceptable; and the Department of Education has not yet presented and pursued an effective remedial programme.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately&#8230;the BGCSE test results are not an illusion.<\/p>\n<p>Ralph J Massey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The deficiencies of the Bahamian education system are resulting in a dismal unskilled workforce. The status quo is unacceptable but little is being done by government to remedy this social issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-25250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-educational"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}