{"id":1498,"date":"2009-04-14T00:54:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-14T05:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/?p=1498"},"modified":"2009-04-14T00:54:39","modified_gmt":"2009-04-14T05:54:39","slug":"repostplease-send-this-to-all-my-teachers-in-college-hehehestumbling-and-mumbling-in-praise-of-dumbing-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onthe8spot.com\/index.php\/2009\/04\/14\/repostplease-send-this-to-all-my-teachers-in-college-hehehestumbling-and-mumbling-in-praise-of-dumbing-down\/","title":{"rendered":"rePost:Please Send This To All My Teachers In College hehehe:Stumbling and Mumbling: In praise of dumbing down"},"content":{"rendered":"

remember sir Ken Robinsons<\/a> TED<\/a> talk here<\/a>, of how schools kill creativity, he says something there like “college produces college professors”, I love my professors but sometimes feel this sentiment. same with the board exams, the EE board exams produces exam takers\/passers not electrical engineers<\/a>. red the half of the post i didnt grab<\/p>\n

In praise of dumbing down<\/a>
\nComplaints about \u201cdumbing down\u201d have become a clich\u00e9. However, in narrow technical terms, the dumbing down of exams could be a good thing, as this recent paper explains.
\nThe intuition is simple. Exams can only measure a subset of the skills required for most jobs. If you set tough exams, people with good skills which the exam<\/a> doesn\u2019t test will either fail or not even enter. The result is that employers<\/a> who look for exam grades plus other skills will not get a pool of able candidates.
\nIn such cases, the dumbing down of exams can help. They\u2019ll allow those people with good but non-tested skills to now acquire credentials as well. And as these people can now get jobs ahead of good exam-passers with poor other skills, so labour productivity<\/a> might improve. This would happen if the decline in average tested skills is small, relative to the improvement in average non-tested skills of the new exam-passers, or if non-tested skills are very important for job success.
\nIt\u2019s possible, therefore, that dumbing down can be good for the economy.
\nSo much for theory, what of practice?
\nvia Stumbling and Mumbling: In praise of dumbing down<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Reblog<\/a>