Is the Pen and the Paper Enough?

 I walked to lectures by foot. Perhaps you did by car or by a bicycle or by a motorbike or even on a horseback probably but one thing is certain, which is that neither of us got to class by means of a pen and a paper.

What is so special about a pen and a paper that men must spend, averagely, half of their lifetime obeying their dictates.

Come to think of it, the lecturer spent so much time tutoring and explaining subject matters with all the mighty arsenals of teaching there are. Yet, in the long run, the whole story ends with just a mere pen and paper at the exam hall.

Is the pen and paper really the best instrument to ascertain learners' understanding of subject matters thought? In the face of all the technology, sophistication and advancement that postmodern civilization can boast of, is this the best we have got as a measuring tool for understanding?

The positiom of a pen paper as the most widely used assessment tool globally is only an indication of how ironic our so called technological progress really is. Simcerely, I believe we are either stuck or retrogressing even.

It is high time we seriously rethink our mode of assessment at all levels of education. 

Come to think of it, a student is made to employ all his senses in learning most especially his ear and eye. Out of all the senses engaged, the greatest portion of the things learnt are heard. However, the enthused learner will eventually be required to express his understanding only via a pen and a paper.

I hold no unwarranted vandetta against the pen and the paper, yet I do not entirely agree with the role they play in the learners life- thus assessment of understanding.

To me, this is as much wrong as it is unfair.

When will we get to the era where students who do not excel in written expressions and grammatical constructions will eventually find for themselves a befitting equivalent assessment. 

What if we gave oral assessment an equal consideration, for the benefit of fairness. 

In the art of war, the choice of the battlefield is a key determinant of victory. If the field tends out to be biased, then obviously, the outcome would not be fair. Although in war, unfairness does not exist but thankfully, education is not essentially war- regardless of how we are made to see it.

"Dear sir, dear madam, I did not assimilate that which was taught me by the means of a pen and a paper therefore excuse me if I am unable to express it via same."

This the anlogue of unspoken dialogue that sits in the minds of the so-called 'poor students'.

No student is better than the other. Every student is only differnt from the other in the sense that our senses are being cordinated under the supervision of divers and distinct genotypes.

Consider these two students in a biology class... One knows where all the organelles are located in the cell but cannot draw a cell whereas the other can draw a cell beautifully but cannot label the parts. Both are students in the same class who are learning about cells for the first time. Which of these students is better than the other???

Munch on that for awhile.

I came across a saying probably by Albert Enstein that says "if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, then it will live all of its life thinking it is stupid"... Likewise, if we assess a genious artist by his ability to compute calculus, or if we choose rather to assess that math genius by his ability to express himself in writing, then perhaps he/she will end up like Einstein's fish. 

Our world is fast changing and changing we must be along with it. To keep up with the pace, we must change  and be fast about it!

The pen and paper simply is not enough.

By: Francis, Ghana

Dedicated to all students hopefully anticipating a change in our examination systems.