Philosophical Debate

[deontological]

... what about one of their peers of around the same level as them, who through no fault of his own, has not managed to secure a place yet...possibly the only one in a school year of 60 kids...and remember, this little chappy was of their calibre a few weeks ago...his body language is also changing to one of someone thinking he is a failure or looser...

PapaM

I assume that you and DS are first-party to the scenario that you described and, if so, you’re in an unenviable position of needing to support DS through a difficult time of his young life.

This is somewhat off-topic for the current philosophical discussion so I’ve creating a new thread under the topic subject of “Coping with Exam Disappointmentâ€

[PapaM]

Hey! Great ....Thanks for starting that thread - v. glad someone has...

But to take this topic along - if possible....

wrt Child A and Child B

....if, after working hard and getting a result, a sense of achievement is felt, then the associated feel-good-factor can possibly bring up inherent (or innate) in Child B. If Child A gets this as well then it can further excel them, but without this feeling, perhaps it is easy to start feeling negative and then before Child B overtakes Child A, it may happen that Child A starts lagging....

Better probably to instill an attitude of always doing hard work in both types of Child?

[Sassie'sDad]

I am sorry to have missed this topic altogether until now.

My take on this is that the Warwickshire's new style 11+ specificly excludes being able to go back over any section of the test. So quick workers are not able to gain any advantage!

It puzzles me that this test (commissioned from CEM) has that feature which I assume was stipulated by WCC in their commissioning. For it is CEM who provide (or such is my understanding) the computerised entrance test for some public schools, notably Rugby. The striking feature of this test is it is adaptive i.e. if questions are too hard to answer correctly, the level of difficulty drops for the next question. If too easy the degree of difficulty increases on the next test question.

I think this is highly desirable and those wishing to see a better 11+ test should opt for a similar computerised test to be included in or replace the exam'!

[Reader]

People do notice that after several practice papers the scores do not change that much. I suggest that to do well children should not be bogged down at an early point by these papers as their enthusiasm (if any!!) will wane and it can have the opposite effect to the one desired. Don't create a quiet bubble to work in because on the day of the exam children will be scraping their feet on the floor, blowing noses etc. Don't discourage looking up and imagine yourself at their age in their position.':shock:'

[deontological]

....if, after working hard and getting a result, a sense of achievement is felt, then the associated feel-good-factor can possibly bring up inherent (or innate) in Child B. If Child A gets this as well then it can further excel them, but without this feeling, perhaps it is easy to start feeling negative and then before Child B overtakes Child A, it may happen that Child A starts lagging....

Better probably to instill an attitude of always doing hard work in both types of Child?

I think Reader has touched on an important issue concerning motivation of young learners. Humans, in that complex form of social animals, crave continual feedback from others (friends, families, relatives etc.) as a form of affirmation within that vital realm of social interactions ... certainly no less so in young children.

There're countless published books written on the subject that promise insights into the particularly complicated area of how best to motivate your child. In reality, I guess the challenge/puzzle would not be solved by simply consulting a book. We all need to feel good about ourselves and that "feeling", in turn, tends to trigger greater energy to do/attempt doing more and better things. But there's no absolute answer to how might one child respond to certain external stimulus (e.g. motivating or demotivating event).

I feel that being a "supportive" parent in whatever and however a child is doing/coping in terms of their learning (that's a lot easier said than done) is probably a lot more meaningful and valuable to that child than worrying too much about exactly where the child is performing relative to others.