Drowningin the SEA

THE EDITOR: Our students are drowning in the SEA (Secondary Entrance Assessment). What are we really testing, intelligence or education?

Intelligence is the ability of the mind to respond to new conditions and to realise keenly what it perceives and to create from out of its accumulated impressions new things, new perceptions and new courses of action.

Education on the other hand enhances intelligence in providing the mind with an abundance of material with which to work, but it cannot give the mind that aptitude necessary to use what it has acquired. Intelligence alone can do that.

The disadvantages of SEA:

* Stress and anxiety. This exam brings too much stress and anxiety with it.

* Not a fair way of testing someone’s knowledge. The time allocated for the SEA is not enough to judge the skills of the students.

* Unnecessary comparison among students. Students lose their self-confidence and become depressed. There is a difference between comparison and competition. Let me explain.

Competition is good for schoolchildren. Comparison with another student raises problems. Comparison is not good for the future.

* Students cram. They get good grades but do not comprehend the subject. The concepts are not clear completely.

I would like to suggest we stop publishing the results for the general public. Stop the first 100 students list.

Please remember, “Little thoughts make little men and women.”

Not everybody will get their first choice at SEA. There is always room for improvement. Students, please buck up.

AV RAMPERSAD, Princes Town