We might marvel at the proGREss made in every field of study,but the methods of testing a person's knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that after all these years, educationists have still failed to devise anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person's
true ability and aptitude.
As anxiety makers, examinations are second to none.That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. The moment a child begins school,he enters a world of sharp competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of drop-outs, young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even begun a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?
A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so 'the student is encouraged to memories. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under pressure.
考试对教育的负面影响
每一个学科领域所取得的进步都可能让我 们 称奇，然而用于测试一个人的学识和能力的方式却仍和从前一样原始。经过这么多年，教育者 们 仍没能创立出一种比考试更有效、更可靠的方法，这实在 是 不可思议。尽管有很多人虔诚地宣称考试可以测出你掌握的知识，却有这样一个普遍的共识，即考试所做的往往与之相悖。考试或许 是 一种测验记忆力的好方法，或许 是 测验在极端压力下快速工作的诀窍。但 是 它却不能说明一个人真正的能力和资质。
考试作为“焦虑症制造者” 是 无人能及的。这 是 因为有那么多事情都有赖于考试。考试在我 们 的社会中 是 成功或失败的标志。在具有决定意义的某一天，你的一生可能就被决定了。一个孩子步入学校大门那一刻起，他便步入了一个残酷竞争的世界。在那里，成功和失败都被明白无误地加以定义并量度。辍学者的数量日渐增加——那些年轻人甚至还没有从事一种职业便被作为彻底的失败者而被剔除出去一—对此，我 们 难道不纳闷吗?我 们 难道对学生中的自杀率不感到惊诧吗?
除了其他目的之外，良好的教育应该训练人独立思维的能力。考试却根本做不到这一点。学生必须学些什么已由教学大纲生硬地规定了下来，这便鼓励了学生去死记硬背。考试不但未能激发学生去广泛地阅读，反而限制了他 们 的阅读范围。它不但未使学生能够去追求更多的知识，反而诱导了死记硬背。最成功的应试者往往不 是 受教育最好的人，他 们 只不过 是 在应付工作压力的技巧方面最训练有素罢了。
