What Hath AIM Wrought? NZ Students OK to Use Txt Spch On X4ms

[Lemur]

If you're a chat-addled New Zealand kid, this is your week. It's now legit to use chat text abbreviations and conventions on your exams. I'm looking for two "idjit educators" comments and at least one "decline of civilization" rant. Linky.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

New Zealand students may 'text-speak' in exams

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- New Zealand's high school students will be able to use "text-speak" -- the mobile phone text message language beloved of teenagers -- in national exams this year, officials said.

Text-speak, a second language for thousands of teens, uses abbreviated words and phrases such as "txt" for "text", "lol" for "laughing out loud" or "lots of love," and "CU" for "see you."

The move has already divided students and educators who fear it could damage the English language.

New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said Friday that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.

The authority's deputy chief executive for qualifications, Bali Haque, said students should aim to make their answers as clear as possible.

Confident that those grading papers would understand answers written in text-speak, Haque stressed that in some exams, including English, text abbreviations would be penalized.

Post Primary Teachers' Association President Debbie Te Whaiti said the authority's move reflects the classroom situation.

Teachers would have concerns if text slang became acceptable in everyday written language in classrooms, she said.

Critics said the National Certificate of Educational Achievement or NCEA, the main qualification for high school students, would be degraded by the authority allowing text speak use in exams.

Internet blogger Phil Stevens was not amused by the announcement. "nzqa[New Zealand Qualifications Authority]: u mst b joking," Stevens wrote. "or r u smoking sumthg?"

[CrossLOPER]

What the hell am I doing in The States? I should be studying in New Zealand!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

New Zealand's Qualifications Authority said Friday that it still strongly discourages students from using anything other than full English, but that credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.

Sounds perfectly reasonable.

Good luck sending in a job application written with AIM talk.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Hah. The inane coddling of schoolkids continues.

It'll be a larf when they get out in the real world.

CR

[Kralizec]

wtf?

[Motep]

well thats just stupid. Text sppech should not be used in schools, where proper english belongs....no need to elaborate.

[Dutch_guy]

If you're a chat-addled New Zealand kid, this is your week. It's now legit to use chat text abbreviations and conventions on your exams. I'm looking for two "idjit educators" comments and at least one "decline of civilization" rant.

Would someone actually do this on an exam though ? Can't imagine myself doing it if I were a NZlander...

[Scurvy]

Good luck sending in a job application written with AIM talk.

actually, these day's you probably could get a job wit an application written in AIM talk.

[Silver Rusher]

Would someone actually do this on an exam though ? Can't imagine myself doing it if I were a NZlander...

You'd be surprised.

[Aenlic]

(sigh)

/rant on

This is the end of civilization as we know it. (That one is for Lemur)

What are they thinking in New Zealand? So what if the little snot-nosed cretin shows an understanding of the material? The school is also supposed to be teaching English, isn't it? Grammar? Spelling? Punctuation? Isn't this a tacit admission that the school has failed in at least one of those duties? Tests are important. They matter. So, while managing to instill an understanding of the subject, the school has failed to instill an understanding that shorthand and slang have their places and that something official and important like a test isn't that place. Wonderful.

What other subjects might this method affect? Will it be OK to teach a child to play a sport like soccer, while completely ignoring the need to also teach the child how to tie shoelaces? Shoelaces are such a small matter, really. As long as the child grasps the concept of soccer, then it's OK? Will work right up until the little idiot trips on his untied shoelaces.

Sadly, it isn't just New Zealand which is doing this. I've seen reports of other countries failing miserably in their mission to teach, as well. It has been happening in the USA. Add in the misuse of testing in the USA, with a system which encourages teaching only what will be on the test, and you have a recipe for the gradual dumbing down of the population.



I give up. We've failed as a species. We aren't making it off this planet before we make it uninhabitable for ourselves, thanks to our utter lack of interest in education. We'll all be happily texting each other as we die in our own filth because engineering and science are too exacting for the lazy little snots who think it's OK to use texting shorthand on tests.

Let the bees and ants take over.

/rant off

[IRONxMortlock]

(sigh)

/rant on

This is the end of civilization as we know it. (That one is for Lemur)

What are they thinking in New Zealand? So what if the little snot-nosed cretin shows an understanding of the material? The school is also supposed to be teaching English, isn't it? Grammar? Spelling? Punctuation? Isn't this a tacit admission that the school has failed in at least one of those duties? Tests are important. They matter. So, while managing to instill an understanding of the subject, the school has failed to instill an understanding that shorthand and slang have their places and that something official and important like a test isn't that place. Wonderful.

What other subjects might this method affect? Will it be OK to teach a child to play a sport like soccer, while completely ignoring the need to also teach the child how to tie shoelaces? Shoelaces are such a small matter, really. As long as the child grasps the concept of soccer, then it's OK? Will work right up until the little idiot trips on his untied shoelaces.

Sadly, it isn't just New Zealand which is doing this. I've seen reports of other countries failing miserably in their mission to teach, as well. It has been happening in the USA. Add in the misuse of testing in the USA, with a system which encourages teaching only what will be on the test, and you have a recipe for the gradual dumbing down of the population.



I give up. We've failed as a species. We aren't making it off this planet before we make it uninhabitable for ourselves, thanks to our utter lack of interest in education. We'll all be happily texting each other as we die in our own filth because engineering and science are too exacting for the lazy little snots who think it's OK to use texting shorthand on tests.

Let the bees and ants take over.

/rant off

LOL, nice rant!

I don't think the situation is quite that dire but I agree, this is very much a cop out on behalf of the schools for failing to teach their students English.

I guess it doesn't matter too much if "txt sp33ch" is used on Science exams etc. but I assume the students are not able to use this on their English papers and exams?

[AntiochusIII]

lol

[Byzantine Prince]

Lol, this is ridiculous. Why not just start talking in 4chan lingo instead? It's much kewler.

Anyone retarded enough to write an exam that way deserves all the disadvantages he get's in later life.

[AntiochusIII]

Anyone retarded enough to write an exam that way deserves all the disadvantages he get's in later life.

u cant dicryminat me liek taht u *** i hav fredom of speak im kewler tahn u anywy an schools *** lol lol xD

[Incongruous]

Hey Hey

U wnt 2 go nd hv a go at nzlds ejuction sistim u hve 2 get thru me 1st!

Any way I can see a few twats at my school doing this, just because they shouldn't be in 7th form and they can't spell properly.
Such is life under the overlordship of NZQA!

[Lemur]

This is the end of civilization as we know it. (That one is for Lemur)

Bless you, sir. Bless you.

[Samurai Waki]

Yes. I suppose we need to dedicate a Country to people with Special Needs.

[Hepcat]

Yes. I suppose we need to dedicate a Country to people with Special Needs.

That would be New Zealand.

I hadn't actually heard of this being officially endorsed, but it is common pratice for many students anyway. It is part of NZQA's "let's be positive" attitude. They want as many people passing as possible. What happens when everyone passes? The qualification loses it's value. The fact that we no longer get percentage grades means that in the happy land where everyone is happy none of the less so happy people can discriminate against the very happy people who get the equivalent of 30% because their scores look just the same as the person who got 60%.

Failed papers DON'T appear on your end results. When I sat Level 1 NCEA I was shocked because I thought I had passed everything, WRONG! In the happy land of happiness that is NCEA we promote happiness in the most happy way possible.

This system is making Universities more suspect of applicants and because of all the bad media over the education system employers disregard it.

I can't stand text language. We have always been told in class that we need to use formal language and shouldn't have abbreviations like "shouldn't" but then again a lot of them are just as against NCEA as I am. They often set the standard higher than it actually is (for me anyway).

The question is, do we make the exams easier to get more students to pass or do we make the students work hard to achieve them how they are?

The NZ government has decided we should make the exams easier.

What the hell am I doing in The States? I should be studying in New Zealand!

Don't, believe me. They keep revising the system every month, though at least it isn't every week now like when it was first introduced. Just learning how the course works is harder than anything you are required to do in it.

[Papewaio]

Great. I suppose that they will start applying the same system to sporting teams and in particular the All Blacks.

Has NZ forgot that they have to compete against the rest of the world outside of the sports field or do they really want to be just an agriculture wonderland and a tourism mecca.

Mind you Rutherford was home schooled... maybe that will be the only way forward in NZ if it has lost the spine to foster a world class school system... which means utilising and embracing competitive spirit, having standards to create quality. Appealing to the lowest common denominator and passing everyone is the sign of a week and insipid people, I would have limited that to the government but as they have been re-elected multiple times the axe has to fall on the heads of my fellow kiwis.

[Aenlic]

In spite of the above test silliness, New Zealand is still one of the best countries in the world. Along with Finland, it has the lowest corruption in government. It's a beautiful country. The people are great, especially if we use Papewaio as an example. If I had to choose one other country that I wish I'd been born in, instead of the USA, it would be New Zealand.

[Fragony]

It's pretty l33t

[naut]

Gah!

EDIT: Nevermind.

[macsen rufus]

Well, I guess if exams RESULTS can't differentiate good students from poor students, there has to be something else allowed so that employers/universities can cull the feeble-minded that now get their "pass for showing up in class one day".

Apart from that all I wanted to say is "It's the end of civilisation!!!"

What next, English-speakers having to learn their own mother tongue as a second language?

[Fragony]

What next, English-speakers having to learn their own mother tongue as a second language?

Hey macsen rufsen, that sounds suspiciously much like me

[R'as al Ghul]

The next thing to reach a school near you:
Why read a novel when you can watch teh movie?
(Oh wait, we already have that.......)

R'as

[CrossLOPER]

Lol, this is ridiculous. Why not just start talking in 4chan lingo instead? It's much kewler.

But we still want moar!!!

[drone]

I pity the poor teachers who have to grade AOL-speak.

[yesdachi]

I pity the poor teachers who have to grade AOL-speak.

Why? It’s the teachers that have allowed it to happen.

[AntiochusIII]

Why? It’s the teachers that have allowed it to happen.

You sure it's not the administration?

Oftentimes beaurecrats can be quite detached from actual "workers-on-teh-field." Ask the Japanese and their oversized, bloated, corrupted, and relatively useless beaurecracy. :P

What next, English-speakers having to learn their own mother tongue as a second language?

They should.

It'll improve their grammar, if nothing else.