Two weeks and it already feels like...

Already two weeks old into 2013 and it already feels like the middle of the year, as if the Christmas break never happened at all. 

After the third quarter examinations on Thursday and Friday, things will suddenly shift into higher gear for the grade six department. The teachers will be very busy preparing the pupils for the grade six National Achievement Test or NAT which is the barometer of performance of schools. Unlike before, there were the Regional Achievement Test (RAT, a big rodent) and the Division Achievement Test (or the DAT, as in Dat Big Joke!) were grade six teachers and pupils used to prepare for this three test as a supposedly mock test for the NAT. The tests were also ways for the regional and the division office to rank the performance of their underlings.  When it comes to rankings...let's just say that rankings and the thought of ranking make people rankable for the looney bin.

Thanks to the Ph.Ds and Ed.Ds of the department for stopping these superfluous tests because they did not achieve anything, and most of the times the test items were recycled or copy pasted letter for letter including typos from the previous years'. I mean...with pupils preparing for three major evaluation and assessments a year, and administrators trying to outrank each other in performance at each level, the pupils were trained (not educated) towards achieving good test results which means more rote memorization and mock tests and mock tests and reviews and reviews and mock tests blah, blah, blah...no sane mind would learn anything from it. Sure their head would be filled with facts and figures but then, once regurgitated, nothing is digested.

Aside form the NAT, we will also be busy preparing for the field day ( which I hope will not push through) and the graduation.

I know, I know this post is too negative, but you know how it is, if I do not take these things out in writing, chances are, I'l be taking them out on people and that means being one mean son of a female dog :-)