Students say they don't know what 'trivial' means in exam question fiasco

The Guardian ^ | 11/15/18 | Ealanor Ainge Roy

[trisham]

It is.

[Sergio]

“Trivial isn’t a word that you hear too frequently, especially not if you’re in Year 13,” Stadnyk said.

What? You hear it in rap lyrics all the time...oh wait...never mind.

[SMGFan]

For those in Rio Linda & New Zealand

definition
trivial : of little worth or importance

[cuban leaf]

:“Trivial isn’t a word that you hear too frequently, especially not if you’re in Year 13,” Stadnyk said.”

---

They’re used to phrases like “Here’s a foto 4 U.”

[cuban leaf]

Yeah, but if the school takes them seriously, they could lead to an event of importance. ;)

[Fiji Hill]

Had these kids been classically educated and completed the Trivium, they would likely know the meaning of "trivial."

[gcparent]

Probably can’t even prounouce the word.

[Boogieman]

Really, even if they didn’t know the word, students with any brains could have figured out from the context of the quote approximately what the word must have meant. After all, if someone said “important things have important causes”, it would not be enlightening or quoteworthy at all.

[Freee-dame]

Trivial isn’t a word that you hear too frequently,

You should have a much larger reading vocabulary than spoken. Do these students read anything not written in texting abbreviations?

I guess the game "Trivial Pursuit" is outdated.

[Boogieman]

They should have translated it to rap-vocabulary, like:

“Big thangs be havin triflin causes”

Kids might have got that.

[Simon Green]

In a thread on another message board on the same story, a college professor said that they have college students who don't understand the difference between a painting and a photograph.

They call every image a "photo".

[Billthedrill]

Words have specific meanings? Isn’t that racist?

[Two Kids' Dad]

That’s when you have three vials rubber-banded together, right?

[Robert DeLong]

So it should lead to events of importance. 8>)

[-YYZ-]

Maybe if they tried reading something other than their smartphone, they’d have better vocabularies. I can’t be the only one who finds it ridiculous that 18 year olds in their final year of school aren’t familiar with the word “trivial”. If their vocabulary doesn’t extend to such a common word as that, I question whether they deserve to graduate.

[NutsOnYew]

An online petition...

...is a trivial pursuit.

[DeFault User]

It is amazing what they don’t know. The other night on the Jeopardy teen tournament nobody recognized the phrase “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth” I thought Alex Trebek’s jaw would drop.

[Truthoverpower]

Let’s play the fun word game
I’ll start
Niggardly

[Red Badger]

Uvula................

[Sergio]

Possible...but maybe add a few “f” bombs, just to be sure.