Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Boo, exams are over.
Students claim they feel more stressed during exams. However, i would beg to differ. There will come a point in the education system where exams would actually be less stressfull and tiring than in class..at least where i am concerned, that is what i feel. This paradox of enjoyment while most students feel stressed should probably stem from the fact that I blissfully assume that i will do my best and in the end, survive and make it through like some major exam i went through about 1 year ago, at this exact same time. strange, what i felt at that time was enjoyment.
Exams seem to be a way that helps me cultivate the newest and strangest of hobbies. The major exam last year yielded a variety of new hobbies for me, from fishing to vermiculture , and this end of year examiniations yielded yet another: herb garden planting. Instead of studying and fully focusing on the exam, part of my time was spent reading up on certain articles about plants and their usefulness, especially that of the seemingly elusive mint plant, which is often deemed as a pest in landed gardens but yet one that i cant seem to find.Such ironies must result from geographical differences over space and time ( the articles i read from were mainly US based ) and thus may not apply to the relief and climate of such a land structure.
Exams are a merit good- it exhibits positive externalities, which are 3rd party spillover effects not borne by any members of the activity i.e the exam marker and the student. A student, an exam consumer, will only take into account his private benefits i.e Nothing ( or so it SEEMS, well, to students, exams are stressful, right? ) and private costs i.e time spent, money spent on exam, studying, photocopying stuff,etc etc and not his external benefits i.e the increased contribution to the society he/she can make due to the increase in education level, as well as the knowledge he/she gains ( I'm considering this external as most students do not consider this ). This would imply a divergence between marginal private benefit and marginal social benefit, thus meaning that exams are UNDERCONSUMED. To rectify this problem , school intervention is required. Schools can rectify exam failure by increasing the production of exams. As exams are an unrefusable commodity, an increase in supply would mean an increase in demand. However, it may be difficult for schools to accurately establish the right amount of external benefits and this may lead to overexamination, which may result in deaths and gnashing of teeth. To conclude: I am hungry. goodbye.
points to note:
1. This post was not written with geography or economics concepts in mind, do not blame me if they are wrong.
2. Remember point 1 before you flame me.
