From NCEA on, examiners have us on a treadmill that is slowly sucking away our love of learning – but there's a better way
Opinion: Last night I had that dream again. You know the one where you forget you have an exam and walk into a classroom only to see the exam paper waiting for you.
It’s been many decades since I wore camel nomads but that wave of panic is still real.
Even more so now because I have voluntarily signed up to study again in my spare time.
It’s for a Diploma of Wine.
Before you get all excited about how much fun ‘studying wine’ must be, there are many exams, with a lot of technical content as well as blind wine tasting that is no cake walk.
Under lockdown I have tried to get ahead. It’s a great distraction from Covid curves that won’t flatten.
Instead, I have learnt about how many things want to destroy grapes while they are on the vine and that it is a small miracle that we ever end up with a chilled chardonnay in our hands.
I have learnt about the chemical reactions that create those aromas and flavours we so like; green capsicums in our sauvs, black pepper in our shiraz. But now knowing it’s all about esters and the like, hasn’t taken away the magic of a newly poured glass of something tasty.
But what I am also learning is how fun it is to learn.
Perhaps I have been binge watching too much Rita and other Scandi series on Netflicks where exams there seem to involve discussions with each student to determine their knowledge and understanding of what they studied rather than our preferred method of cold halls filled with rows of desks and standardised exam papers.
I am learning because I want to. I am curious and reading widely. Yes, ultimately, I want the qualification, but what I most want is to be able to explore the wine regions of the world from the safety of my lounge, find the best bargain on the supermarket shelves and be like wine-tinder for friends, matching them with their new best drop.
There are quite a few of us hitting the books. Stats show six to eight percent of adults are likely to be studying now. Four to six percent of us are chasing formal qualifications; two percent studying informally. Our average age is 44 years. We probably have a partner, kids and are squeezing study around a full-time job.
I hope y’all enjoying it as much as I am, well at least until I get to my next exam deadline.
But my experience is such a contrast to my two children studying just down the hallway. With NCEA mock exams in a few weeks they are working out exactly what they need to learn, what the examiner is looking for, and how to play the unit standard game.
They are clearly on a treadmill that, despite dedicated teachers, is slowly sucking the love of learning from them.
I accept that we need some standards and measurement in our education system and all those exams back then taught me how to plan and work under pressure and stress; skills that have been invaluable since.
But if we are still dreaming about exam pressure three decades later, have we really got the balance right?
Perhaps I have been binge watching too much Rita and other Scandi series on Netflicks where exams there seem to involve discussions with each student to determine their knowledge and understanding of what they studied rather than our preferred method of cold halls filled with rows of desks and standardised exam papers.
But really, it's time to put the remote control down and get back to those books because I need to get my head around fermentation yeasts.
* Given she must taste so much to pass, Jo has started reviewing the wine she is trying, especially bottles under $30, at her new Instagram page @winesauvy
