MANY PNG STUDENTS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING

Teachers and students will do well if they can pull themselves out of the cultural mud. Some schools have done that.

So many students in PNG know nothing about anything. They sit in class and wait for the teacher to put a summary on the blackboard. They write the summary down and that is what they do for all their school lives. They do not think and could not put a view on any topic.

So much of school in this country is anti-intellectual. Brighter students remain silent for fear of being punished by the slower students. There can be no group work in class as most students will sit and contribute nothing. Some students will not speak during their whole stay at school over several years.

They have no experience in putting ideas together. That is why the examinations are based on objective questions. Students are not being tested on their ability to explain a concept. Most could not do it. They are tested on single facts through objective questions.

Through Universal Basic Education, the Government plans to remove examinations and put all students through to the end of high school. That is a waste of time for so many students.

The more capable students have been terrorized by the cult fights between the schools. The leaders of the cults are mainly the lower level students who are not school focused. They want to show the academic nerds that they are the leaders not the nerds. The cult fights disrupt school activities.

In government schools, it is against regulations for teachers to make individual test results known by the class. There is a reason for this. The brighter students are being protected from the lower level students who may bash them out of school.

It also means that many students can go all the way through school without accounting for their low marks. They are on a permanent holiday at school. Their report cards go into the river on the way home.

There has been a downward spiral in standards in this country mainly through a lack of English skill among so many students, a lack of interest in the world and complete lack of interest in memorization. Please click:

frustration of an expatriate teacher 

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Oct 9, 2011 - FAMILY POSITIVE LIVING - AIDS HOLISTICS. faith, hope ... Teachingin a rural high school is frustrating for an expatriate teacher. Having