Education is expected to provide students with knowledge, understanding, skills, creativity, curiosity, and ability to think independently. However, in most cases, the current education system is increasingly emphasizing the evaluation of success of a student through the scores obtained from examinations. In most cases, students are encouraged to aim at getting better scores rather than understanding what they have been taught. Thus, education might be reduced to mere score hunting.
The Pressure of Examinations
One of the reasons for overemphasis on grades is the emphasis placed on examinations. The grade often determines the promotion of a student, admission to a specific course, or selection for further studies. Where examinations are the criteria for success, students will definitely tend to emphasize whatever will earn them more marks.
This is where instead of asking "What have I learned?", one starts asking "How do I get more marks?".
Competition Among Students
The second critical issue is competition. Students often tend to compare their grades with those of their fellow classmates. Similarly, parents might compare their kids with their relatives, neighbours or other friends.
This leads to the development of an idea in which one who scores better is successful while the one scoring poorly is incompetent. But grades in academics are just a reflection of performance in a specific test and do not reflect creativity, practical abilities, communications skills, curiosity, leadership, emotional quotient, problem-solving skills, and many other traits.
Healthy competition is good for motivating students but too much of it can make studying difficult and demotivating.
Pressure from Parents and Society
Every parent wants his/her children to be successful. Sometimes success is measured purely on the basis of marks in exams. The child can be told things like, "You must secure 90% or 95% marks." However, no effort can be made to ensure that the child learns something or develops interest in the topic.
Social norms add fuel to the fire. Marks are often openly congratulated, while underperforming students are made to feel ashamed.
Apart from asking the child how many marks he or she secured in exams, a parent can also ask:
• What did you learn today?
• What did you find interesting?
• How did you solve the problem?
• What questions arose in your mind?
• How will you apply what you learned?
Rote Learning
Learning systems that give learners marks for reproducing memorised information may promote rote learning. Learners tend to memorise definitions, responses, formulae, and essays a few days prior to taking the exams, which they later reproduce on the answer sheets.
Learners will acquire marks this way, but memorised information tends to disappear from one’s memory after a very short while, especially if one did not really comprehend it or relate it to any practical situations.
True education entails having comprehension of the subject matter, asking relevant questions, making connections, and explaining one’s comprehension in one’s words.
For instance, a learner will memorise the formula used in determining the area of a circle, then pass the exam with full marks. True learning should entail comprehension of the formula and its application in a real situation.
Coaching and the Race for Marks
There is also the emergence of private coaching and tuition which is another factor that has brought about the examination culture. Coaching is good since it enables one to get help in academics, but when it takes the form of coaching on how to improve examination grades, then the student spends a lot of time learning how to answer questions than actually understanding things.
In very competitive examinations, the students are taught how to recognize question patterns, learn shortcuts and practice many of those types of questions. This is helpful for examination preparation but should supplement understanding.
The Role of Schools and Teachers
Another aspect where schools play an important part is in transforming this culture. For instance, teachers might be under pressure to prove their effectiveness in terms of good examination results, and schools themselves could be measured by that criterion as well.
However, teachers can give students the chance to explore things that go beyond books and exams. The application of projects, experiments, discussions, presentations, debates, trips, practicals, and problem solving tasks will give students an idea of how knowledge operates in reality.
Assessment could be done not just via exams but in the form of projects, practicals, presentations, portfolio, class participation, and other forms of continuous assessment.
Marks Are Useful—But They Are Not Everything
It must be noted that marks do serve some kind of purpose. Exams offer a comparatively easy way to measure some aspects of academic education and can assist organizations in making decisions regarding admission and progression.
The problem lies in the fact that marks can become the only criterion for judging the success of the educational process.
A student who gets 95% might be brilliant in academic knowledge, whereas the student getting 75% might be exceptionally talented in terms of creativity, practical skills, communication, or leadership. In addition, a student having problems with written exams might have a good grasp of the topic, but cannot explain it in exam conditions.
Thus, marks must be considered as one of the criteria of the learning process.
How Can We Shift the Focus from Marks to Knowledge?
However, a healthy education system may conduct exams but place more emphasis on comprehension and application.
1. Fostering conceptual learning
The students must learn the “why” and “how” of a certain topic, rather than the answer itself.
2. Changing the method of evaluation
Questions on exams could be based on reasoning and application rather than just the ability to remember something.
3. Incorporating practical learning
Science experiments, assignments, projects, field trips, demonstrations, vocational tasks, and solving real-world problems can make education more practical.
4. Avoiding unnecessary comparisons
The parents and teachers must appreciate the differences of the students. The progress of a child should not be measured merely in terms of comparison with other students.
5. Encourage curiosity
Students must be encouraged to ask questions, including those which do not necessarily have an answer stated in the textbook. Curiosity is an essential element of authentic learning.
6. Relate education to practicality
Students must be aware of how mathematics, science, languages, social sciences, economics, and other courses relate to their real lives and careers in the future.
7. Emphasize skills
The ability to communicate, work together, think critically and creatively, be digitally literate, conduct research, and solve problems is becoming more and more significant.
Marks have several practical applications, but marks must not be made the end goal of education. The true end goal of education is the creation of well-informed, contemplative, competent, inquisitive, and responsible individuals.
A student may be able to forget answers during an exam, but genuine comprehension will continue to prove beneficial for life. Hence, there must be created an environment where the primary concern is not only “How many marks did you get?” but equally “What have you learned, comprehended, and been able to do?”
By placing education in the context of knowledge and comprehension, where marks become just one aspect of the process of assessment, exams can be made tools for assessing learning.
