Stupid New Zealers with their big book-learnin words...
Posted on 11/16/2018 10:52:42 AM PST by Simon Green
New Zealand high school students have demanded examiners ignore that they don’t know what the word “trivial” means, after it appeared in a final-year exam and left many confused.
Some students who took the year 13 history exam claimed the “unfamiliar word” was too hard, and the exam should now be marked according to each student’s different understanding and interpretation of “trivial”.
The exam asked for students to write an essay on whether they agreed with a quote from Julius Caesar which reads: “Events of importance are the result of trivial causes”.
An online petition claims the word trivial “caused much confusion” in the Wednesday exam and many students “were not particularly familiar with” the word.
More than 2,500 people have signed the petition, calling on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority [NZQA] to “recognise the true potential of the students and mark the essay based on the student’s own content and understanding of the event, many of which were different to what the word actually means.”
Year 13 student Logan Stadnyk who took the exam told local media that at least half of his classmates thought trivial meant “significant”.
“Trivial isn’t a word that you hear too frequently, especially not if you’re in Year 13,” Stadnyk said.
Kristine Kilkelly, NZQA deputy chief executive assessment officer, said the exam was written by experienced history teachers who had judged it suitable for year 13 students.
“The language used in the question, such as the word ‘trivial’, was expected to be within the range of vocabulary for a NCEA Level 3 History student,” Kilkelly said.
“If candidates have addressed the quote and integrated their ideas with it, then they will be given credit for the strength of their argument and analysis and will not be penalised for misinterpreting the word ‘trivial’.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Their complaints are trivial...................
Since they don’t really teach reading or writing anymore, only make boys think they’re girls and girls think like victims, it’s understandable.
I had a Marine tell me that
MinuteMen were used during the
Civil War,,,
Another was offended by me using the
Term;
Player.
Thanks Marines.
WTH is “year 13”?
trivial?
Isn’t that a sixth grade vocabulary word?
“Year 13 student Logan Stadnyk who took the exam told local media that at least half of his classmates thought trivial meant “significant”.
If I woulda told my dad something like that he would have slapped me on the back of the head so hard my eyeballs woulda popped out. geez
From Wikipedia:
In New Zealand, Year Thirteen is the second year of post-compulsory education. Students entering Year 13 are usually aged between 16.5 and 18. A student may stay in Year Thirteen until the end of the calendar year following their 19th birthday.
I’m glad I don’t live in New Zealand.
> The exam asked for students to write an essay on whether they agreed with a quote from Julius Caesar which reads: “Events of importance are the result of trivial causes”. <
So Caesar’s quote is too confusing? Then give the students something else to ponder. In future test versions, use this quote from Al Sharpton instead:
“But resist we much… we must… and we will much… about… that… be committed.”
The idea they didn’t know what “trivial” meant, is crazy.
BUT, it sounds like the essay will be graded appropriately anyway, suggesting that if the student did a good job of explaining what THEY meant by “trivial”, the essay would be interpreted on that basis.
Which is how I always approached essay questions. My first paragraph for any essay question was to provide my interpretion of the essay question, so the grader would know exactly what it was I was TRYING to address.
It generally worked, I mean I was very good at essays, and did well on such tests, and I presume in part because there was no question about what I was trying to write about.
I remember once when I had to write an essay “defending Plato” on some specific insight he had, and I started with “Not that Plato needs defending”, and the teacher responded with “You should have said “Plato needs no defense”.
(Once I did an essay on Sidhartha by instead writing a poem meant to sarcastically denounce the concept of “circle of life” including inanimate objects. I got an “A”, but sadly the teacher missed the sarcasm. I really thought the concluding line “You will find your own Nirvana, hidden deep within your soul” would have been a tip-off.)
Cultural Marxist “education” has not been good for the intelligence of Westerners.
New horizon in test taking. You can now answer the question “based on the student’s own content and understanding of the event, many of which were different to what the word actually means”
So, if they ask a question like “what is the square of 2” you can answer “It’s 3” and that will be OK because that’s how you understood the question.
So New Zealand has become a bunch of ignorant p*ssies too.
It’s good to know that the rest of the world is catching up to our fine educational standards.
“Who needs to know how to spell? That’s trivial. We’ve got better things to do.”
For wont of a nail, a Kingdom was lost?
It is New Zealand.
My daughter asks me vocabulary questions all the time. She is, however, 9.
beautiful place, film stand in for Lord of the rings etc.
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