Who ever said Math is easy? A group of UK parents were aghast to find a test question included in standardized test for 6 to 7 year olds, which they deemed to be difficult. The question only made use of two mathematical operations: addition and subtraction.
Yahoo reported that the question went like this, "There were some people on a train. 19 people get off the train at the first stop. 17 people get on the train. Now there are 63 people on the train. How many people were on the train to begin with?" Is this too hard?
@MichaelRosenYes Have you seen this one? Year 2!! pic.twitter.com/TDVjccH8U4
— Louise Bloxham (@LouiseBloxham) May 7, 2016
The outrage stemmed from the seemingly agitated and stressed children who took the said standardized tests. Reports have it that the children were close to tears after taking the test due to the level of difficulty that confronted them for the math standardized test.
@LouiseBloxham @rachbaxter25 @MichaelRosenYes I believe the word is demoralise. — _jort (@_jort) May 10, 2016
Parents were concerned why such a question was asked for kids who are "so young." Parents Against Primary Testing, a Facebook page, posted the Math question, but along with it also gave a wrong answer. The post was deleted, but it has already stirred an ongoing online discussion regarding the difficulty of math standardized tests.
Huffington Post reported that the correct answer was 65. Although the answer seemed non-threatening figure for 6 to 7 year olds, there were still parents who regarded the question as "too difficult" for this age group to hurdle.
@LouiseBloxham @carveresque That's the answer to the first step not the whole thing. So if they are reversing the calculation 63 - 17 19 =x — Tarjinder Gill (@teach_well) May 8, 2016
Many parents expressed their concerns on Twitter and Facebook. Some said that the math question was a simple "trick" aimed at students. Another parent said that it was too ambiguous, which is why children found it really hard to answer, let alone some parents who got it wrong.
@LouiseBloxham @bickypeg @MichaelRosenYes ridiculous pressure on children who are 6-7 years old — rick jones (@rick_jones397) May 8, 2016
To make up for the wrong answer initially posted by Parents Against Primary Testing page concerning the math standardized test, it subsequently posted this: "The published answer for this is 65, so continue debating whether this is too hard." Up to now, the online debate whether the question was too hard for 6 to 7 year olds was too difficult or not is still ongoing.
Do you think the math standardized test question is hard? Should the questions be made a bit easier? Do you think it would still be a proper evaluation of children's capacity if the questions were made easy? Share your thoughts on the matter.
