I am a concerned student writing to you about the negative effect of your decision to change to the education system. Not only has the surprise testing scared many people, the in crease in the work load has affected teachers as well. Accordingly, students are finding the work harder and missing out on extra-curricular activities because teachers are too busy to run them. This is a serious issue that should be solved immediately.
In my opinion, the change in education should have occurred with children in younger grades so they wouldn't feel the change in workload as apposed to students who were used to a certain workload has suddenly changed on them without notice. Being a grade 10 student myself, and having already taken the literacy test, I would have to say it wasn't that hard. On the other hand, for those who aren't as bright or as studious, they had a problem with it.
Some students didn't even try.
Both students and teachers were affected by the change. I can't tell you how many times my teacher has told me she can't get a test in to me as soon as possible because she has so many other classes to prepare for. Also, teachers have participated in less extra-curricular activities because of this increase in marking and lesson planning. It is important that students participate in extra-curricular activities because this increases their team skills, their social skills, and so much more.
I think this problem could be solved easily. This new curriculum should be implemented on students in grade one or two so they can grow into the new education system without feeling the change. By the time they are in grade 10 they would be ready to take the test with some type of knowledge base for...