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timbk2
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/National...put-to-the-test/2004/11/08/1099781322336.html
congrats boys and girls.. some of you got your posts mentioned.
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We're all lazy and stupid: young wit and wisdom put to the test
By Justin Norrie
November 9, 2004
The youth of today fail to meet society's expectations.
That was the proposition put to more than 83,000 year 10 students in yesterday's two-hour School Certificate English-literacy exam, and it was always going to trigger an emotional response.
Students were asked to compose a speech agreeing or disagreeing with the claim that they could deliver formally to an adult audience.
Anna de Mello, 16, from South Sydney High School was philosophical in her response: "I agreed that we fail society's standards, but I said that society doesn't meet our expectations either.
"Young people don't have the same ideas about the world as older people do. I'm more interested in the technology in my computer than the technology in a bomb."
Her classmate Ashley Cheng, 15, chose to back the proposition with a hint of sarcasm. "I said we fail because we're all lazy and stupid," he joked.
After the exam, however, generation warfare was put aside as students and teachers agreed the paper was a good one - challenging but fair.
For the first section, worth 60 per cent, students were asked to fill out multiple-choice and short-answer questions based on a series of written passages and an advertisement.
The second section tested writing skills by asking students to compose the speech, as well as a letter describing their impressions of the future.
English teacher Effie Bonis, from South Sydney High School, said the paper was an improvement on exams in previous years that had required too much reading. Ms Bonis said: "It was just great that they didn't have reams and reams of words to get through, it was a good length.
"The students have told us they found it good and that the stimulus in the questions was interesting. It was good to see more visual stuff as well, considering the way kids are going these days."
On the boredofstudies.org website yesterday afternoon, students described the test as "alright" and "a breeze", with a few exceptions.
"I thought the speech on 'living up to society's expectations' was the biggest piece of s--- ever!" one student wrote.
After English-literacy, students sat a science exam in the afternoon. They return to the exam room today for the morning mathematics test, and the Australian history, geography, civics and citizenship exam in the afternoon.
They are due to receive a folio of their results on December 9.
congrats boys and girls.. some of you got your posts mentioned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're all lazy and stupid: young wit and wisdom put to the test
By Justin Norrie
November 9, 2004
The youth of today fail to meet society's expectations.
That was the proposition put to more than 83,000 year 10 students in yesterday's two-hour School Certificate English-literacy exam, and it was always going to trigger an emotional response.
Students were asked to compose a speech agreeing or disagreeing with the claim that they could deliver formally to an adult audience.
Anna de Mello, 16, from South Sydney High School was philosophical in her response: "I agreed that we fail society's standards, but I said that society doesn't meet our expectations either.
"Young people don't have the same ideas about the world as older people do. I'm more interested in the technology in my computer than the technology in a bomb."
Her classmate Ashley Cheng, 15, chose to back the proposition with a hint of sarcasm. "I said we fail because we're all lazy and stupid," he joked.
After the exam, however, generation warfare was put aside as students and teachers agreed the paper was a good one - challenging but fair.
For the first section, worth 60 per cent, students were asked to fill out multiple-choice and short-answer questions based on a series of written passages and an advertisement.
The second section tested writing skills by asking students to compose the speech, as well as a letter describing their impressions of the future.
English teacher Effie Bonis, from South Sydney High School, said the paper was an improvement on exams in previous years that had required too much reading. Ms Bonis said: "It was just great that they didn't have reams and reams of words to get through, it was a good length.
"The students have told us they found it good and that the stimulus in the questions was interesting. It was good to see more visual stuff as well, considering the way kids are going these days."
On the boredofstudies.org website yesterday afternoon, students described the test as "alright" and "a breeze", with a few exceptions.
"I thought the speech on 'living up to society's expectations' was the biggest piece of s--- ever!" one student wrote.
After English-literacy, students sat a science exam in the afternoon. They return to the exam room today for the morning mathematics test, and the Australian history, geography, civics and citizenship exam in the afternoon.
They are due to receive a folio of their results on December 9.
