The boys had their piano exam yesterday. It was nerve-wrecking for them, as expected. But they went through it. The experience itself was well worth it.
It was a "test", something quite foreign to them. It was Zern's first piano exam and Keane's second. Those rare "real" tests where performance was gauged only in those few minutes and not by how much you practised and prepared.
You know, the type of tests/exams that appear in your nightmares even when you're way beyond the age for taking exams. SL and I know, cos we still get those nightmares sometimes.
Why, oh, why then did we put them through tests? Friends from back home were lamenting how many "tests" and "exams" their kids have to go through and how much stress it places on the child.
Well, whether they passed or not, SL and I told them we would still go through it. For a very simple reason. Because life is full of tests and they, unlike their counterparts in Singapore, have had so little of it.
Their so-called "school exams" needed absolutely no preparation. Of course, they were asssessed on a regular basis and so the "exams", according to most international schools here, were just a continuation of regular assessment. Friends from Singapore, don't be too envious.
After all, think of when the kid enters higher education. Tests are a must. Imagine how she or he would feel, that sudden dawn of realisation that there comes a time when you and only you can sit for your own test. Nope, you cannot ask your teacher for help; Nope, you have to answer the questions whether you prepared for them or not, and Nope, test don't care if you're in a not-very-good-state-to-answer and nope, you're not allowed more time. And of course, you WILL be ranked against your classmates (or even against the whole cohort), whether you like or not.
There are many schools of thought about children sitting for tests or exams.
Well, this is what we figured: tests are here to stay; so might as well take some and get used to them while you can afford to fail.
Well done, K & Z. Papa and Mama are so proud of you.
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