New Zealand high school students say word 'trivial' in exam confused them

[muriel_volestrangler]

High School students in New Zealand who didn't know what the word "trivial" meant in an exam question have demanded not to be marked down as a result.

More than 2,600 people signed an online petition over the "unfamiliar" word.

The students were asked to write an essay based on the Julius Caesar quote: "In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes."

Examiners said the language used was expected to be within the range of the year 13 students' vocabulary.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46234545

I'm amazed they can be on the verge of adulthood in an English-speaking country and not know the word 'trivial'. Or that they think their shortcomings should be ignored in an exam.

[Blues Heron]

1. They can probably identify 100 corporate logos no prob tho nt

[jberryhill]

2. Here's the problem, imho

If the essay counted for a major part of the scoring, then a student who did not know the word “trivial” was unable to do anything at all on the essay. So the problem is “what is the test intended to measure?” If the test was intended to measure their writing and composition ability, then it was poorly designed to do so, since for a substantial number of students, it merely measured whether or not they understood the word “trivial”.

However, in a circumstance like this, the wise student tripped up by a single word should choose to write an essay of some kind. I would write an essay to the effect that Caesar said no such thing, since he pre-dated the English language and would likewise not have known the meaning of the word “trivial”. And it is misunderstandings like that which can lead to war.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Yup, since when did an ancient Roman emperor speak in English?

The quote is too pact and concise to have been an actual translation. True translations are never so well worded and frequently lose something.

[RobinA]

41. So...

It would have been more understandable if it had been in the original Greek or Latin?

[Farmer-Rick]

68. Yes.

[brush]

19. Really?

Don't exams measure students' cumulative knowledge also, which includes the MEANING OF COMMON ENGLISH WORDS?

[jberryhill]

37. Understanding meaning is important too

It is very easy to test whether students know the meaning of a word, and one does not use an essay format to do that.

While I realize the “point” of worldwide circulation of thoroughly uninteresting news stories about mundane local events is to make people of average ability feel superior about themselves, as the comments on this thread demonstrate, you seem not to have understood my point.

If the point of the test was to measure the ability of students to write an essay, then the test failed to do that in a substantial number of instances. Students who may be capable of writing an acceptable essay apparently got hung up on the meaning of the word “trivial”. Students who wrote a shitty essay, but knew the meaning of the word, scored higher than better essay writers who did not know the meaning of the word.

That type of result, when one is attempting to measure essay-writing ability, is an unanticipated flaw in the device for measuring essay-writing ability.

[brush]

39. Sorry, I don't agree. Students at that level shouldn't be thrown by a common word like trivial.

[msongs]

42. trivia is a LATIN word lol nt

[jberryhill]

46. Yeah, well, he was Roman, not Latino

[Kaleva]

51. Didn't Romans speak Latin?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

70. We only know they wrote it. What they spoke? Fuhgettaboutit. nt

[Kaleva]

72. The Monty Python documentary "Life of Brian" touches on the subject.

[jberryhill]

83. Oddly enough, I had thought the same thing

However, we actually can work out how they sounded.

[GusBob]

66. I tend to agree with you

And I think it should be pointed out that there is a fair portion of NZ students who come from the native Maori population. The very concept of the word may be foreign to them as they tend to have a broad world view. In essence nothing may be trivial to them

[meadowlander]

85. That's the subtle racism of diminished expectations.

Everyone in New Zealand speaks English to the point that significant efforts have had to be made to support te reo use in schools and in the media. Even if their background is Maori or Pasifika (or Chinese or Filipino), they will still have grown up in a country where most of the TV channels are in English, most classes at school are taught in English - even if they go to kura kaupapa, most of the songs and radio programmes are in English, 99% of business is conducted in English, etc. And they are taking a test to determine their suitability to attend university classes which will all be in English.

Also the te reo word for trivial is "hauarea". If you don't know anything about a culture, it's probably preferable to try to educate yourself instead of just randomly making "noble savage"-type generalisations like "they tend to have a broad world view".

[GusBob]

87. My experience is based on months of volunteer work at the marae

Bastion point, Aukland NZ

They are not savages they are my friends, and I theirs.

And my understanding of mana might be different than yours. My feeling is they don't waste time to contemplate trivial things

You dont have to be rude you know

[meadowlander]

80. Year 13 in NZ are 18 year olds - the equivalent of high school seniors.

It's not unreasonable to expect an 18 year old to know what the word "trivial" means. Most nine or ten years olds know what it means because of Trivial Pursuit or can work it out because they know what a "trivia question" is. It's on 7th grade vocabulary lists in the US. And the NZQA exams are the equivalent of the SATs. Would you object to an SAT question that included the word "trivial"?

How are you supposed to design a test that assumes the reader doesn't know what relatively common words mean *and* can't it figure out from the context? Why not assume that they don't know what "important" means or "causes"?

Basic vocabulary is a part of both writing and composition ability and the test is doing what it is designed to do - identify where there are gaps. It's not like this question would have been the only one on the exam. If they bombed this one, they would have had other opportunities to make it up on other questions.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. These kinds of stories are excellent starting points for tough discussions about education,

testing, achievement and what should be measured, but it's a lot more fun to roll eyes at the young'uns.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. I'm wondering if part of the problem might stem from the rise of "trivia" bar games, which could

make a person think that it had something to do with "random or obscure facts," rather than something small or seemingly unimportant. The difference could be confusing.

[RobinA]

45. Part Of The Problem

is that too many people of all ages don't read anymore. That's how one becomes familiar with words the school can't get around to covering and words that have had their meanings skewed by pop culture usage. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Not to mention spelling... People need to pick up a book.

[malaise]

4. WTF?

My former English teacher would have written E- Boo!

[Adrahil]

5. They probably thought it had to do with obscure knowledge. LOL NT

[MineralMan]

6. Students who don't know the word "trivial"

would probably write a lousy essay on that topic anyhow. Their complaints are trivial, indeed, but the effect of their lack of knowledge will be important to them, I think.

[OnDoutside]

8. It's not a big deal.

[brush]

21. I saw what you did there.

[Codeine]

23. Nice. nt

[sl8]

10. "Students won't be marked down in exam for not knowing what trivial means"

From https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12161446

Students won't be marked down in exam for not knowing what trivial means

16 Nov, 2018 4:12pm
NZ Herald

...

NZQA said the language used in the question was expected to be within the range of vocabulary for a student at that level.

However, it said if students had addressed the quote and integrated their ideas with it, they would be given credit for the strength of their argument and analysis.

NZQA said they would not be penalised for misinterpreting the word trivial.

...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. If the purpose of the test is to measure the student's ability to make an argument, this seems to be

the correct outcome.

[Coventina]

15. So if the teacher used vocabulary expected to be within the range of the students,

how in the heck are teachers going to compose exams that won't be challenged?

(This is part of the reason why I no longer give exams in my classes. It just wasn't worth the constant arguing with the students over the results every single time).

[MontanaMama]

11. I have a 13 year old son who is in 8th grade.

I am shocked almost daily about what he isn’t being taught in school about grammar and language. I’ve asked his teachers why there seems to be no emphasis on basic grammar and vocabulary skills and they say “yeah I know...but that’s not part of the curriculum.” It’s apalling. And certainly not trivial.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. What are some examples?

[MontanaMama]

17. Just yesterday, he brought home

a graded paper from his ELA (English Language Arts) where he’d misused the word me when he should’ve used I. In fact, he did that twice. There was another sentence where he wrote “their” instead of “they’re”...The teacher didn’t mark any of the errors. She’s done this before and when I’ve asked her about it she says that if the child has a grasp of the reading material and can show that in their writing then she feels that the grammatical and/or spelling errors are not as important. She’s not the only teacher who has this opinion. It is infuriating to me.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

44. I don't envy teachers who teach language arts.

With the way reading, writing, comprehension, grammar and other skills are intertwined, it can be difficult to teach all of them together to a group of kids with a wide variety of skill levels and proficiency. Most teachers are in a triage situation, and tend to focus on the purpose of the lesson rather than integrating it across skills, which is what it sounds like here. Our haphazard approach to education and lack of coherent educational philosophy is a real problem.

[RobinA]

52. Horrible

Although I'd be wondering if the teacher knew the difference...

[malaise]

69. That is freaking crazy

Nooooooooo!

[LibDemAlways]

31. I'm a substitute teacher in California. A few years

ago, I had a six week assignment in a 7th grade English class. I was tasked with teaching the students how to write a formulaic five paragraph essay to include an introduction with thesis, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. What a mess. The kids had no clue about sentence structure, transition words, punctuation or spelling, never mind the critical thinking skills necessary to formulate a coherent thought.

All I observe in the elementary grades is a lot of emphasis on crazy seating schemes that include kids on the floor, at low tables sitting on big bouncy balls, or at high tables with bar stool seating. I am not kidding. Kids are rarely required to sit and do their own work. Everything is done with an equally clueless partner. Common core complicates basic arithmetic so much that adding 25 plus 47 becomes a 10 step art project. Spelling and grammar errors on what little writing is assigned are ignored. No wonder students reach middle school completely unprepared for what lies ahead.

Kids don't know much because they aren't being taught much. Current events, by the way, are never even mentioned, so unless they are exposed to what's going on in the world at home, they won't know Pence from Pez. It is a sad situation all around.

[MontanaMama]

35. Yes! The group think/work

teaching strategy has all but taken over classrooms! I get the value of working in groups here and there...but it does nothing to help the child develop critical thinking skills or formulate their own ideas. I’m not a teacher but I have taken every opportunity to be a parent helper in my child’s classroom and when I see this group think/work thing employed, in almost every case, the most vocal and or extroverted child’s ideas are adopted by the group. The kiddos who are quieter or more introverted tend to blend into the background. The extroverted children, while more visible may or may not have the best ideas but that does not matter in that particular moment. I see kids lost in that dynamic.

[RobinA]

47. Oh, Do NOT Get Me Started!

Went to school in the '60' - '70's. Not a lot of groupwork, thank the lord. Teachers taught the class. Started Masters Degree in 2003. OMFG!!!! Groupwork constantly. I'm a quiet kid. One of the two or three who do the actual assignment correctly after the extroverts pontificate for weeks on their idea of how the project should be done, only to figure out a week before it's due that they are wrong. Thanks, we got this, now shut up. And having students "present" (in other words, teach) part of the curriculum to the class. Look, I'm paying thousands for this class. I want to be taught by somebody who actually knows MORE about the subject than I do, not the guy sitting next to me.

[MontanaMama]

59. I went to school in the 60's, 70's and college in the 80's.

Group work wasn't a thing when I went to school - thankfully - because I too am introverted and working in groups would have been painful. My son is also a quiet kid. While he may have his own thoughts, ideas and convictions, he is less likely to bring those to the fore than the kid sitting next to him that has no problem stepping forward and may or may not know what he's talking about. Further, my experience in the classroom is that boys tend to take over these working groups and girls tend to sit quietly in the background. That really bothers me. Some of these girls I've known since kindergarten and they are whip smart...as is my son and it shows in their grades. The constant group work doesn't benefit those quiet kids, imo. I'm not sure it benefits anyone. Some teachers will go so far as to note this lack of interest/participation negatively on a progress report or report card. Technically they can't grade class participation but we've had teachers who go out of their way to point it out. When that happens, let me tell you, it's ON. When my kid has straight A's and works his butt off at school, he'd better not get some cranky comment about how he doesn't participate in group work at the level expected by the teacher.

[LisaM]

60. I notice the results of this in the workplace.

We no longer have individual secretaries assigned, we're supposed to use either a pool of people with technical proficiency, or practice assistants (assigned to attorneys; I'm a paralegal) if we need something that requires a physical document be sent out.

What I find from this is that while people have skills, they have no clue how to own an assignment from start to finish. They can't draft a letter (even though there might be 1000 examples on our system). They send off courier packages and don't provide the tracking number so I don't know if something was delivered timely. I've had a case where one of them sent a letter via certified mail (we think the party has moved, and we want proof that we tried to deliver it) and when I checked the status with her a few weeks later, she acted as if she'd never heard of it. So I asked her to send it again, when I went to check with her to see if the second attempt had gone through, she'd gone on leave for seven weeks. This is just an example, but it's so typical, people do the little piece they're asked, often quite competently, but seem to have no interest in the larger project. They certainly make no attempt to make sure that a letter was delivered or a deadline was meant. Their piece is over, it's over.

This is probably the single biggest problem I have with our newest workers, they don't seem personally attached to a task and then shrug when I ask the status. I don't even blame them, it's clear this is how they've been taught to approach tasks, but someone has to follow things through to completion!

[LibDemAlways]

61. My daughter graduated from a University of California campus

in 2015. Fortunately, she was not involved in much group work. However, she was assigned to one group project that was a nightmare. Her fellow group members, seniors at the university, could not form a coherent thought and put it in writing to save their souls. What they were turning in was such garbage that my daughter contacted the professor to let her know she did not want her name associated with the crap the others were coming up with. After reviewing what the others had done, the professor agreed to grade her contribution to the project separately so as not to screw up her grade. I hate the thought that any student's grade point average is at the mercy of anyone else's lack of effort.

[erpowers]

62. 20 Years From Now

So, what you are saying is that 20 years from now Donald Trump will be considered a genius. We are moving full steam ahead into a world of "Idiocracy". Soon that movie will be seen as a documentary.

[Coventina]

14. Not surprised by this. I have college students who don't understand the difference

between a painting and a photograph.

They call every image a "photo".

[Nay]

30. Holy shit. Really??

[Coventina]

79. Yes, really.

[Straw Man]

82. I would suggest ...

... that they can't or don't distinguish between a painting and a photo because their main (or only) exposure to paintings has been through photos of them.

The medium is the message, and all that.

[SweetieD]

43. Wow!!

[marked50]

16. I thought it was "tribble". I wouldn't expect a 13 yr old to know the word. n/t

[Mariana]

22. They were year 13 students. High school seniors.

Even so, "trivial" isn't exactly an everyday word in most people's vocabularies, and in New Zealand it may be even less common.

[Codeine]

25. How is trivial not an everyday word?

It might trip up my 10yr old, but I guarantee my 14yr old knows what it means and can use it in a sentence, and she’s a pretty average kid.

[xmas74]

40. I asked my 18 year old

and she knew exactly what it meant. She then informed me that classes were "super hard" this last week, wanted to know if I'd make her favorite meal for dinner and stated she's taking a nap and please don't interrupt her with silly questions I have found online.

Ah, the life of a college freshman!

[Mariana]

48. Most people I know wouldn't use the word "trivial" often, if at all.

Given a sentence like the one the students were given, which provides no useful context to help figure the meaning of the word, they may or may not be able to define it correctly.

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. Apparently they do not know how to look up words, either. n/t

[Mariana]

49. Were they able to do so?

When I was in high school, they didn't let us use reference materials during exams.

[not_the_one]

63. that was then, this is now...

Why learn (memorize) anything, when it is all available on your hand-held device?

How about a medical school where ALL tests are take-home, where you can access it 24/7, and the only limit is a time frame in which you must complete it?

Or going to a doctor, seeing an intern, who, when you ask a question or mention a symptom, he/she immediately looks it up on web/md, or some similar medical database?

Call me old school (cause I AM old), but I want my doctor to know what they need to know, not just how to ask google...

[Mariana]

64. Let's stick to the subject, please.

The thread isn't about your doctor.

Do you know for certain that these students had access to reference materials while they were taking this exam?

[womanofthehills]

88. Actually, I've been impressed with docs who get out their computers

They are the ones on top of the latest info.

[RobinA]

50. The New Zealand Angle

would be my question too. If this were the US I'd say they should know it. Don't know how often it's used on the other side of the world.

[Mariana]

55. Yeah, but it's so much more fun to disparage the youngsters.

There's a reason that so many of them weren't familiar with that particular word. It's unlikely the reason is that they are just stupid young people who deserve to be ridiculed.

[meadowlander]

81. Yeah, we speak English in New Zealand too.

Trivial Pursuit is sold in stores. We have trivia questions.

These kids just aren't very bright and instead of taking this opportunity to learn something are whinging to the newspapers instead.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

18. This is a pretty trivial issue.

Jesus, just google the word already and get over it.

[treestar]

20. Maybe the US is not alone

as far as people being less educated!

Or maybe they just don't happen to use that word in that country? It is possible. Aussies for example have words we never use so that could be true for NZ and vice versa.

[robbob]

24. The obvious solution

would have been for a student to put their hand up, explain the problem, and then the teacher could have defined the word for the whole class.

[WillowTree]

65. Exactly. They couldn't just ASK? Ridiculous.

[lostnfound]

26. Is New Zealand an island or a trivial continent?

I’ve never been sure of the difference.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

71. Perhaps one of each.

But, in general, I think they describe the country as "two islands".

If either or both are called "continents", they would be very trivial continents.

[mackdaddy]

27. This petition seems like a Trivial Pursuit .......

[csziggy]

28. In tenth grade I had a teacher who marked my paper down for using a word he didn't know

This was a man who had been a college professor and taught high school English so professors no longer had to deal with "illiterate students" (his words). I wrote a paper about a breed of horses and discussed the difference between that breed's conformation and other breeds' conformation.

He did not know the word "conformation" and marked my paper down two grades for using a word that was not in common usage. In fact, in equine circles "conformation" is very common as a short word for "the build and proportions" of the animals. There are classes at horse shows named "Conformation" just to judge the relative builds of the horses.

I'd known that word since I was an eight year old reading every horse book I could get my hands on! I was shocked that a teacher was so ignorant. Frankly I think he marked my paper down an extra grade because I revealed his ignorance.

[RobinA]

57. Eeee...

Had a college professor once mark off for my use of the Oxford comma. At the time I used it sometimes and didn't sometimes, but always tried to be consistent in the same paper. Ever since then I use it every. single. time. I have a chance, while dedicating it to him each and every time. That's for you, Dr. Greenfield. He also marked me off because he thought I misspelled high jinks. In fact, I looked high and low for how to spell that word (pre-Google) and came up with "high jinks," which is correct, although there are acceptable alternative spellings. He marked me down because according to him it should have been hijinx. Jerk.

[csziggy]

75. Yeah - in college a professor marked down a paper because I referred to guerilla fighting

In connection to American Revolutionary War soldiers. He claimed that guerilla fighting was not instigated until much later. Since I have read papers by much higher placed people than the freshman year student I was that talk about the guerilla techniques those early American soldiers used. At least he didn't claim I misspelled it.

[Adrahil]

77. Just cite the source

Hard for him to argue with that.

[csziggy]

78. At the time I had no source other than my opinion that the tactics were guerilla like

It was 1970 and a lot had been said about those tactics in the news while speaking of the North Vietnamese. While reading about the Revolutionary War the complaints by the British concerning how sneaky the Americans were (particularly Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox) reminded me of the complaints of the time by the Americans against the North Vietnamese.

[Yonnie3]

29. I am wondering how many took the exam in total

Perhaps the 2,600 complaining was a trivial number.

[Brainstormy]

32. Grading Regent's Exams for college freshmen

years ago, there was a question, "Why do you, or do you not, hunt?" Passing the exam was dependent on addressing the question. (There were many students who attempted to deliver a well-written essay that they had memorized but was completely off topic.) In this particular case, many students read "hunt" as "hurt." Some offered genuinely heartbreaking essays, but failed nevertheless. We learned something about wording essay questions that year but I still believe all those who failed probably benefitted by having to take remedial English courses.

[jberryhill]

38. They probably would have benefited more from eye exams

[Metatron]

73. Sounds like a poor font choice by the test creators

[jberryhill]

74. Yup

If a significant number of people read "hunt" as "hurt", one would expect a printing/copying/font issue.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

34. The underlying problem here is that people don't read enough.

If you read, especially if you read a lot and read a wide variety of types of books, it will improve your vocabulary immensely.

I have always been a reader, love words, and know lots of them. One of my two sons reads a lot, the other not so much. The less well read son definitely has a smaller vocabulary.

[OnDoutside]

54. AMEN. My wife has been a great influence on our son wrt reading, right from reading to him from the

age of 2 or so. He's now 12 and has read Dan Brown's Angel's and Demons, The DaVinci Code, and is currently loving the John Grisham novels.

[RobinA]

58. I Agree Completely

I read a lot, have always read a lot, and have a very good vocabulary, including words not in common usage. It's simply a matter of exposure.

[TrunKated]

36. is there any chance...

That the word is just less used in that country for some odd, flukish reason?

I've heard the word used all my life, but may NZ English just doesn't use it that often?

[OnDoutside]

53. The brother of one of my son's teammates is currently studying in New Zealand and I had

spoken with their father about it. He said the standard of education isn't that high in NZ. He said his son was a B Minus student here in the Irish Education system, but was an A++ in NZ, so much so that he is getting a scholarship into University as a high achiever !

[aka-chmeee]

56. Good Grief! Give them all a participation award

and grade the essay on its merits or lack thereof.

[melm00se]

67. LOL OMG Y R U

:-0 bout this?

[Hoyt]

76. In this world, the ability to BS your way through obstacles is essential.

[Straw Man]

84. Context, context.

In the quote given, the meaning of "trivial" can be deduced through context to mean "not important" -- assuming, of course, that determining meaning from context is something that is still taught.

I also believe that students at that level should know the meaning of that word, but I'm no longer shocked by examples of the decline of educational standards, here and elsewhere. In any case, unless it's a vocabulary test, students should be allowed to ask for the meanings of unfamiliar words or at the very least have access to a dictionary.

[brettdale]

86. things went down hill here

When they decided that students could write papers and write their answers in TXT speak.