Sir, – My experience has demonstrated three major shortcomings in our education system: learning by rote, learning to write waffle, trying to teach sciences “out of the book”.
Some see continuous assessment as the answer. It’s a nice idea but creates an open season for cheating and it favours those who can pay for “contract cheating” (November 13th).
My proposals are: open-book exams (they are more testing and more realistic); limit the length of answers (it concentrates the mind, George Bernard Shaw is reputed to have said to a friend “I am writing you a long answer as I don’t have the time to write you a short one“; and learn by doing – in the laboratory and workshop.
– Yours, etc,
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Dr TIM GALLWEY,
Corrig Avenue,
Dun Laoghaire.