Yr4 Project Sample

Assignment 2 : UK school league tables 'encourage the selling of souls' - Felicia Yee & Leandra Nair 4B

Summarise some of the arguments the author raises against UK School league tables.

The author states that schools are turned from centres of learning into marketing enterprises seeking instant results. Although testing is indeed an essential way of gauging attainment, it is abused when the results are used for comparative purposes with no explanation, where the test becomes the driving force in teaching and inhibits the process of learning. It is also where teachers encourage adhering to a prescribed body of knowledge, often without hesitation or deviation. The league tables encourage students to accept that education is about passing exams and that nothing else counts. It also encourages parents to look for schools that get results, however short term they may be.

Do you agree with the author that schools should not be ranked? How are these ideas reflected in your society? Provide reasons for your answer in one paragraph, with reference to a specific argument in the article, within 200 – 250 words.
I agree that schools should not be ranked. Ranking of schools will firstly push every school to pressurize their students to achieve the best results academically in order for the school to be among the top ranks.(PT) Therefore, the school would drive each student to perform well and attain excellent results in tests, which may result in rote memorisation and spoon-feeding of knowledge. Not only is this useless as students will not retain what they learnt, but in the long-term, it causes students to be overly stressed in an attempt to cram as much information in their head as possible (Expl). In an article by the Ministry of Education, "These include abolishing the nearly decade-old system of banding secondary schools based on their academic results, which has led to keen and sometimes unhealthy competition among schools. Some awards which schools currently get from the ministry for academic achievements will also be scrapped." (Evid) This shows that the government is trying to move the focus of schools away from academic achievements and more on the holistic aspect. The government recognises the adverse effects of a ranking system and hence has abolished it. (Eval) Schools are trying to develop students whollistically with activities such as an Arts Festival week, leadership camps, sports programs and so on (Evid). Thus in Singapore, the focus of schools has shifted from academic ranking to ensuring students get a well-rounded and fulfilling education that allows them to pursue their different interests. (Eval & Link)