Dear editor,

I have been following some of the concerns that are being raised by the district teachers association about the value of standardized provincial tests.

The district association has even placed an advertisement in the local papers encouraging parents to excuse their children from writing these exams.

Amongst the claims the teachers make is that these exams don鈥檛 help or teach the children and take away valuable class time and other resources. There is a claim as well that the data from the test results is being misused.

These claims sound a bit like rhetoric.

We are all tested in many ways as we grow, starting from a very early age. The act of writing a test is part of the preparation we need to enter the post-academic world.

As parents we also should get some measure of the basic education our children are getting. There have been stories written of the school system promoting students who indeed have turned out to be illiterate at the end of their elementary schooling.

I have a strong recollection of being graded on a 鈥渃urve鈥� when  I was in school. What that meant in reality was that if as student could keep ahead of 60 per cent of the rest of the class, he/she could be a B student.

As to the statistical misuse of the results; I鈥檓 not so sure. It seems to me there would be great value in being able to identify schools where students are not achieving good results.

What better tool to help in the redirection of the valuable resources the teachers say are being wasted by writing and grading these tests? What better way to reallocate funding to help bring up the school鈥檚 average?

Let鈥檚 encourage our kids to take these tests. Let鈥檚 make them feel good about getting a decent result. Let鈥檚 focus on students who do not achieve well and help them gain the needed basic skills to advance in all aspects of their education. John Davis,

Courtenay