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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that this is a joke

58 replies

Professor · 25/02/2011 21:56

I heard on radio today that govt are going to allow kids to do their exams on computers because they don't know how to use pens.WTF!

Is this a joke or what?

Am so bloody angry at this I could scream.

OP posts:
carabos · 25/02/2011 21:57

Haven't you ever watched Star Trek? No-one writes in space - in other words, no-one will write in the future and no-one needs to learn to write now - keyboards are the new quills.

unfitmother · 25/02/2011 21:58

God that would be fantastic for my DS! >

usualsuspect · 25/02/2011 21:59

Being computer literate is vital now though

HecateQueenOfWitches · 25/02/2011 22:02

well, is there any need for pens?

I think the star trek point is a good one Grin I've seen the new tiny pads and the touch screen phones etc. we are moving away from pen and ink. As long as people are still writing, it really doesn't matter if they do it by typing, be using a touch screen, or however.

I think problems that we have are text speak and the fact the children are not being taught to spell.

I'd be quite happy for everyone to be using fancy little treky pads as long as they had half decent spelling and grammar!

rinabean · 25/02/2011 22:02

Yeah, and they don't have a single exam where they have to chisel their answers into slabs of rock, either. Wink

pinktransit · 25/02/2011 22:04

I did an exam recently (October last year). I wrote with a pen for a solid three hours. I can't remember the last time I did that!! :) My hand nearly fell off by the end of it...
I do have fairly neat handwriting most of the time - after three hours and 14 A4 pages it was barely legible.

When I was at school, there was no other option - the choices were pen, biro or pencil.
When my ancestors were at school, they had slate, or pen and ink. Should we not change with technology?

Have you written with a pen for any length of time since you were at school?
I don't think they're saying that children CAN'T write, just that there are other options.

BelleDameSansMerci · 25/02/2011 22:04

Erm, I think the reporting may have been slightly "off". I saw this story somewhere today (can't find it now) and it was just for exams and not because pupils can't hold pens.

I imagine it would make marking much faster...

5inthebed · 25/02/2011 22:04

My DS2 can't write his own name with a pen/pencil/crayon, but can do lovely sentences on the computer. He has ASD and dyspraxia though so can be excused :)

Original poster
Professor · 25/02/2011 22:05

But that's just it...they can't bloody spell because they use the spellchecker on the PC.

Ask them if they know what a Dictionary is, they look at you gone out.

OP posts:
MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 22:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Professor · 25/02/2011 22:07

And they definitely said it was due to the fact thet children did not know how to use a pen, not just that they couldn't be arsed.

OP posts:
MrsKwazii · 25/02/2011 22:08

I know that I can type a lot faster than I can write and that writing non-stop for three hour exams was a complete pisser.

It's the qualifications regulator putting the idea out there www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8346276/Exams-should-be-done-on-computers-says-watchdog.html

Would be interesting to see how this would work in practice, with x number of computers needed for each exam session, needing to be preloaded with exam papers. Plus there's the need to make sure that they are saved correctly - and mitigation in place to avoid exams being lost if computers crash etc.

usualsuspect · 25/02/2011 22:08

Well times move on ..my ds did all his gcse coursework on the pc

rinabean · 25/02/2011 22:08

Of course children know how to use pens. How do you think they are teaching them to write? If they said otherwise, they're lying.

HecateQueenOfWitches · 25/02/2011 22:09

Dictionaries are crap anyway. To find out how to spell a word, you've got to know how to spell the word! Try looking up a complicated word, or one that is not spelled how it sounds and you're stuffed.

If your spelling is corrected, then you get to know the correct spelling anyway. Because you see it corrected. And over time, it lodges in your brain.

And if it doesn't, then it doesn't matter, because it's been corrected so you are communicating clearly.

which is the aim, after all.

MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 22:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Professor · 25/02/2011 22:15

Hecate...the spellcorrect on a PC is not always correct as it's using American spelling.

So kids use it and think it's right, when it isn't.

It's bad enough that we are closing libraries, now we are not even writing.

OP posts:
JaneS · 25/02/2011 22:18

Of course children know how to use pens. But they're probably much faster typing.

20 years ago, unless you were a trained typist, you probably couldn't touch-type. These days children pick it up quite fast and all my students touch type without having had any lessons - they're only a couple of years older than kids doing A Level so I imagine it's the same.

I'd think that's why pens aren't such a good idea any more. It must be very frustrating to be using something so slow when you know how to work more efficiently.

JaneS · 25/02/2011 22:19

Grin at Madame. Do you have telepathic death-children then?

MadamDeathstare · 25/02/2011 22:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

corns12k · 25/02/2011 22:22

It's not because they can't use pens. OP clearly has never been anywhere near a classroom.

Original poster
Professor · 25/02/2011 22:28

up yours too corns

OP posts:
catfunt · 25/02/2011 22:29

My son will be using a laptop in his GCSE's this summer, due to his dyspraxia.

There won't be any spellcheck on it, and in order to be able to use it he had to be tested to establish whether he could type faster than he can write, as he has had issues being able to complete exams in the past. It means he may have a chance of getting higher than the D he has acheived twice in English, to get it to a level more similar to the A*'s he's acheiving in other subjects.

So personally, I think it's a good thing!

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 25/02/2011 22:29

"it's bad enough that we are closing libraries"

(well firstly good news - our local libraries have been saved in the council cuts)

Secondly - I wonder when the last time an author in the western world wrote a full novel, or book with pen and paper was..........I should imagine most of them use a computer these days - even before computers many used typewriters.....

I was on the the first year of students that was allowed to hand in my Scottish Higher coursework done on the computer - it was a bloody life saver for me. I actually had very neat handwriting, but writing essays, and the like were the cloesest thing to hell I could possible imagine.

I can still write now though thankfully don't have to do it very often (funnily enough - like the poster above when I had to do a 3hr exam my hand nearly fell off Grin). However, when I was studying for that exam I TYPED every single one of my revision notes up.

JaneS · 25/02/2011 22:32

Grin again at Madame's children.

Alright, I'm trivializing another thread, I'll get me coat.