I remember how it was -- JR
New Zealand high school students will be allowed to use text-speak - the second language teenagers have developed for cellphone messages - in exams, according to news reports on Thursday.
The move has divided students and educators amid concerns that it could damage the English language, The Press in Christchurch reported. It said that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority was still encouraging students to use proper English in exam papers but would give credit if an answer written in text-speak "clearly shows the required understanding". Deputy chief executive Bali Haque told the paper that in English examinations, where candidates were specifically required to demonstrate proper use of language, text abbreviations would be penalised.
Teachers' spokesperson Debbie Te Whaiti said that the move reflected the situation in the classroom, where teachers were grappling every day with the use of text-speak. One Christchurch school principal, Denis Pyatt, said that he would not encourage students to use text abbreviations in exams, but added: "I think text messaging is one of the most exciting things that has happened in a long time. "It is another development in that wonderful thing we call the English language." But another teacher, Stephen Rout, said: "Students need to be able to write and understand full English."
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CANADA ADOPTS NON-ACADEMIC CRITERIA FOR PROFESSORSHIPS
The Canadian Association of University Teachers is welcoming today's settlement of a human rights complaint launched by eight female professors against a federal government research program. "Today's settlement is an important step toward redressing some very serious inequities in the academic research community," said CAUT President Greg Allain. In their complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission initiated in 2003, the professors argued that the design of the federal government's Canada Research Chairs Program discriminated against equity-seeking groups.
Allain says the settlement breaks important new ground by requiring the Program to undergo a complete gender-based and diversity-based analysis. In addition, Allain notes, universities will have to establish targets for the representation of women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, Aboriginal people and ensure that the recruitment process for Chairs is "open, transparent, and equitable."
According to Allain, a survey of chair holders conducted by CAUT in 2005 found that only 20 per cent of the Chairs at that time had been awarded to women. Just over 9 per cent of Chairs were visible minorities, less than 2 per cent identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, and only 1 per cent indicated they had a disability. Only 0.2 per cent were Aboriginal Canadians. "Thanks to the courageous efforts of the eight women involved, there are some very important advances made in the settlement that will benefit the entire academic community," said Allain. "It's unfortunate, however, that it took a formal human rights complaint to get the government to agree to things that should have been done in the first place."
Established in the 2000 federal budget, the Canada Research Chairs Program was provided with $900 million over five years to create 2,000 new university research chairs. CAUT is the national voice of more than 55,000 academic and general staff at universities and colleges across Canada.
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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.
The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"
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