In my opinion, since human is made of three main parts, body, soul and spirit, then children should be assessed on these three areas to determine their wholesome development. For the body, physical activities like sports, dancing, personal hygiene etc. would be part of the assessing package. The soul could be assessed with cognitive activities like reading, school/academic work-maths, English, music, literature; and the development of the spirit could be tested by some sort of religious activities like meditation, religious studies, etc. Sounds a bit awkward here, I guess
In Malaysia, school age children are tested by written exams which whether passed or not leads to promotion to the next class. By age 7, children should be in primary school and it lasts for 6yrs. Between 1996-2000, the Level One Evaluation (Penitaian Tahap Satu) was administered to year 3 students which when passed, will lead to a double promotion from year3 to 5 but was stopped because parents were putting undue pressure on their children to pass this exam. To move on to secondary school, the Primary School Achievement Test (Ujan Pencapaian Sekolah Renda) must be written. The subjects tested are Malay comprehension, written Malay, English, Science and Mathematics. In addition to the five subjects, Chinese comprehension and written Chinese are compulsory in Chinese schools, while Tamil comprehension and written Tamil are compulsory in Tamil schools. Aptitude tests are also written and then multiple choice is tested using optical answer paper sheet which is also marked by an optical machine.
It's quiet unfortunate that most countries and schools test children mainly on academic achievement. I believe talents and natural abilities should be nurtured. Adding education to any talent one has will go a long way in making a big difference. But it seems most people go for one and not both. Most people who are making good use of their talents have little or no education and most people who have good academic degrees have swept their talents under the carpet and are just pursuing career.
Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Malaysia
This is a great idea. Testing the child body, soul and spirit can give examiner information about the child's family structure. It can also give observe information on their religious belief.
ReplyDeleteI love what you have posted! There is so much to learn about children if we look at them as a whole child!
ReplyDeleteHi Toluwalope,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that talents and natural abilities should be nurtured and valued. the traditional academic tests especially in some of the developing countries miss many important aspects of children's abilities. unfortunately, some types of intelligence do not fit in traditional tests.
Hi Toluwalope,
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, I like how you broke the child down in 3 parts. I agree that all children should be evaluated on everything not just academics. Only concern I can see with your breakdown is that some people may not like the fact that religion is placed into the evaluation.
Hi Toluwalope
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post!Body, soul and spirit are very important. Children should not only be tested for academic achievement.