Competition

Posted by Steve Towell on 4 September 2009 | 3 Comments

Tags: Competition, Schools

Competition Digi Ed has launched its “Movie of The Month” page. The Digi Ed presenters have chosen four from the hundreds created last month. Students can vote for their favourite movie and in doing so enter a random competition for free movie tickets. Choosing the movies made me think about the value in comparing student's work. I thought I would write or rather pose some questions about the value of academic competition. Is academic competition still valid? Should we compare students against one another or against a set of criteria / benchmarks? Which has more academic merit? Is the age old tradition of Dux still important? If one child manages 98 in a standardised test and another receives 99 is there a real difference in their ability or should they both be considered academic equals? At my childrens' school every child receives an academic award at the end of the year. The end of year assembly is split into stages so that every child has the chance to make it on to the stage and be applauded. Is this fair? Does this encourage mediocrity or does it build confidence? The “Movie of the Month” is obviously a subjective competition. Most students will vote for their own or their friends in an “Australian Idol” style popularity contest, but who is to say that the movies chosen by the presenters were the best to begin with? Please feel free to respond to any of these issues and bear in mind that this is a moderated forum and it may take some time to publish responses.