Here is a painful chronicle to write, but which I consider necessary.
The Journal recently recounted the situation of a 4-year-old studente secondary.
She worked hard throughout the year to get 72% in math.
This 72% is the grade awarded by his school, which determines its own tests.
He still had to pass the ministerial exam, the same for all young people in Quebec.
Why?
Anxious, she fails this exam, obtaining 46%.
His school mark of 72% is also revised by the ministry and becomes 43%.
End result: she sinks.
His mother contacts the media.
Seeing the breach, parents whose children are going through the same thing are adding their voices.
Clarifions.
Why was his school mark of 72% transformed by the ministry into 43%?
Because there are easy schools and difficult schools, lax teachers and severe teachers.
A 90% in an easy school does not have the same value as a 90% in a difficult school.
This young person with 90% in an easy school would have had, say, 72% or 62% or 58% in a difficult school.
There are also schools where the teachers repeat the tests two or three times until the child “passes”.
A 77% obtained after three tries will not have the same value as a 77% obtained on the first try.
In short, if 2 + 2 gives 4 as much in Sherbrooke as in Rouyn, the tests are different from one school to another.
We therefore need an objective mechanism, applied to everyone throughout Quebec, to correct these distortions.
In short, a rating weighting system is absolutely essential.
Is ours perfect? Nothing human is perfect.
Is it objective? Yes, and it’s been around for decades, in fairness.
Should we consider as unjustly penalized someone who bears the brunt of a system imposed on everyone without exception?
Basically, the plaintiffs are saying: it’s not my child who is failing, it’s the system that is failing him, as if repeating a grade or taking a summer course were the end of the world.
The ministerial examination is the same for everyone in order to verify the knowledge actually acquired and to ensure a minimum threshold common to all.
The goal of all this is to ensure that high school diplomas have roughly equivalent value regardless of the school attended.
The other dimension of the case is the anxiety felt on the day of the ministerial examination.
But what will happen next at CEGEP, faced with the famous R rating, and at university, where careers are at stake?
Adult life will be filled with anxiety.
Barre
The minister immediately promised fixes. It surprises you?
How far to go to hide that not all children have equal gifts?
Should we reward the effort or the result?
Should we always lower the bar in the name of compassion?
Non.