Mid-term exams

We finished the mid-term exams just before the parents’ day so that the parents get to know the improvements or declining of their children. They have exams every one and a half month in six subjects: English, Swahili, maths, science, social studies and Christianity. The test papers are bought ready-made from a publisher and they are all multiple choice except compositions in English and Swahili. This means that they are national and not necessarily in accordance to what has been taught in class, it also means that they are easy for the teacher to mark and easy to arrange the pupils from number one to the last one in every class. This was done last Friday in the field. All the pupelssat on the grass while the class teachers, starting from class one, released the results starting from number one in class. One after the other the pupils lined up according to their number. Number one was of course very proud as she or he passed the crowd to start the line. The last ones were not as full of pride tending to look down. It seemed to be assumed that the last ones in the line work less hard than the first ones, because they were told to work harder and not be to be lazy. This session is far from what is considered a good way to encourage slower learners or pupils with learning disabilities in Norway. I was not very delighted to see and hear that the attitude towards the pupils with a lower score was this biased (I know that many of the last ones work very hard). But I also think we have something to learn from this in Norway. It seems to be very accepted among teachers and pupils that every person has his or her strengths and weaknesses and it is not a taboo to say it out loud, and it does not make you a better or a worse person.