What’s in a grade? Is it overrated? Well… sometimes.
Given the right kind of examination and conditions that
ensure the integrity of how responses are produced and given, examination
results could be very useful in gauging the ability of an individual to be an
effective team member.
The challenge however is that many times examinations are
based on textbooks theories and not real world application realities. Hence, an individual may be able to
regurgitate some listings and definitions, but have no clue how they affect
life – especially within the context of the job they may end up in.
Having an expansive vocabulary is always an advantage for
the possessor if it is known how it is to be used. So there is a place to learn definitions and
listings, but these cannot stand alone. These
are to be found at the very basic levels of questioning according to Bloom’s
Taxonomy: Knowledge and Comprehension.
The good student possesses not only knowledge and
comprehension, but also has the ability to apply the material. It means that at this level the student has
the ability to solve problems. Effective
problem solving, which is where the rubber means the road in the real world,
also employs the skills to analyse (tear into parts) a situation and synthesise
(generate and assemble the parts) alternate solutions.
The key words so far which are critical in producing and
verifying an effective worker are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis
and synthesis. These are areas that
examination questions must cover, and are therefore skills that should be
taught in the classroom. There is a
final word in Bloom’s Taxonomy’s list: Evaluation.
Evaluation is a composite of knowledge, comprehension, application,
analysis, and synthesis, and can only be effective when these skills are
mastered. A well trained student is able
to perform this operation that is to be tested as well. An effective competency evaluation, performed
by the teacher on the class, will test all the above areas. Sometimes however examinations are not
comprehensive and could be misleading.
If you are an employer therefore, you should either have
your own examinations that you administer, or you should be satisfied that the
certification that the prospective employee has indicates that a comprehensive
and objective evaluation has been done.
If you are a student, don’t be too quick to jump for joy
when the examination is too easy. You’re
probably being set up to fail on the job.
You’re paying a lot for your degree; demand value for your money.
