Contest 108! (Blog 598)
It’s time to review another one of Matt’s school-based sketches! Long story short, Matt keeps explaining to his pupils that they can play video games once they finish their test, and no one can get their head around the idea. When I was in school, I didn’t have the option of playing computer games after finishing a test (although in infant school I was allowed to play with Lego after completing various tasks, it just wasn’t very enjoyable), I certainly didn’t finish tests in 1 to 2 seconds as Matt shows. Maybe things are exaggerated for comic effect or maybe the sketch WAS based on reality, it was just condensed into a few seconds for practical reasons. If the viewer were to watch Matt monitor his students for 30 to 60 minutes in real time, maybe that would be pretty boring. I’d watch it though, just out of mental curiosity. What are students like these days? Hopefully I’ll see them throw a chair across the room and start a fire. It’s not because I’m antisocial or anything, I think I heard that it’s human nature to want to watch that kind of thing as it mentally prepares you to real life threats, or something like that, anyway. So when I hope to see poor behaviour? It’s only because I’m only being cerebral. The thing is, 1 second tests sound fairly believable when you hear the horror stories about modern schools. I’m wondering what test can be completed in that time. I’m picturing there being one question asking ‘What’s your name?’ but who can write their name in a second? The test must be even simpler and if it is? Yes, the education system HAS been dumbed down. Pupil reaction speeds, though? Second to none.
Oh I’m so sorry Matt, I misunderstood some of what you said. When you said pupils can play games on i-Ready after finishing the exam, I assumed that was a site like Steam or whatever, where you can download games like The Need for Speed or whatever (which would be a fitting game to celebrate successful completion of one second tests). Actually, it’s an educational site used for teachers. That’s good! Not as bad as playing GTA, right? However, defending the one second test is far harder, again maybe it lasted 60 minutes?? Oh yes, talking about simply writing your name, when I was 18 and very depressed, the time soon came where I’d have to create my own signature. With next to no thought, I did a basic scribble and have regretted it ever since. However, I did some Googling and apparently it really isn’t much of an issue at all changing your signature, so I did some experimenting with a new one. I soon came to the conclusion I STILL can’t be bothered. Well, that says it all, doesn’t it. The thing is, writing ‘Simon Wiedemann’ in a way that is quick and stylish looking isn’t so easy. I could simply write my name, but in a weird way, I think that’s less creative than the scribble. So it stays for now. Will I change it in the future? You know what? I don’t know. Worst case scenario with my current signature, a toddler will pretend to be me with little effort and go on a spending spree.
I’m sure this is the fault of nobody, but the writing that goes along with the sketch at one point says ‘Mr. Jones, up dad’ instead of ‘Mr. Jones, I’m done.’ What does the former mean? The teacher’s dad is hovering above him? It could be kindness and the showing of care, it could be violation of a boundary. (In my experience, the latter). Ah yes, it was a simple mistake. Sometimes children (or people mimicking children in this case) talk in funny accents that are hard to comprehend, making the generation of subtitles tricky! Famously, Scottish people sound like they say ‘a boot’ instead of ‘about’. It’s just a misunderstanding, that’s all. They don’t have ADHD and keep changing the subject, it’s an accent! Oh yes, another theory of mine regarding the one second test is that no one actually bothered to do it. That sounds bad, but in a way laziness is better than ultra mini tests as the ‘tests’ would show no one has any faith in school children at all. Good parents want what’s best for their children, the thought teachers give them such tasks would be disappointing for me. Think you’re playing on Playstation? Think again. Now what to say? Ah yes, I’m wondering what blog 599 is going to be about. Whatever its topic will be, I’m anxious to get it out of the way, because I want to get busy with number 600! I guess I could talk about eating a chicken samosa and crisps as that will be likely be the highlight. Now check out Matt’s video below!
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