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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 16, July 12, 1976.

To Think or To Pass Exams?

To Think or To Pass Exams?

Dear Sir,

It's people like DSFC (Salient 5/6) who wrote about Educ 111 and Jack Shallcrass, who make me realise I'm not the only thick guy around.

The first sentence accuses Shallcrass of lecturing on "irrelevant material". I do not find discussion of the relationship between the individual and common good in education with comparitive reference to the Soviet and American systems, irrelevant. This line about "better results" is laughable. In case DSFC et al didn't know, it's pretty difficult to fail Educ 111, but this statement has a much broader pertinance for the University as a whole: are you here to pass exams like DSFC, or do you actually want to broaden your mind. DSFC is probably scared stiff of (or maybe bored by) the questions Shallcrass is getting at - why are there virtually no Maoris at our University? what to do about increasing elitism in our system? etc. Irrelevant???

Shallcrass discussed Kohlberg's notion of pre-conventional thinkers (children), conventional thinkers (those who do the "acceptable" things and don't question them) and post-conventional thinkers (who perceive that some existing forms need change and work towards this). I think DSFC missed the point.

Yours sincerely,

John Claasen.