Let’s begin with a test. Below are four quotes. Choose to answer all four. For each, recall the exact editorial these quotes are from. Additionally, include the actual author and write a brief paragraph about the significance of each. Go.
1) “And if so, how do we change this system?”
2) Campus Y
3) “...even a less popular one...”
4) “A cappella”
If you thought such a test would be impossible to accomplish, even for our most devout reader of The Daily Tar Heel (Hi, Mom!), you’d be right.
Student input has consistently pointed out the flaw with quote tests and “one-and-done” paper classes. When we refer to “one-and-done,” we’re not thinking of the University of Kentucky’s basketball team, but rather classes with one heavily weighted paper submitted at the end of a semester. Both of these assessments are popular not only in middle and high school language arts classes, but unfortunately as well within university English departments, including at UNC.
And yet, for years these examinations have persisted to come around like a childhood bully ... who is hired to a senior management position ... at the same company ... that refuses to promote you. We’re just saying it’s less than ideal.
According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the quote test meets the lowest level of questions (but the highest level of Dante’s Inferno). Bloom designed this classification system with six levels, hierarchically arranged from the least to most complex. It seems counterintuitive that a student newspaper would call for more complexity on their exams; however, let’s consider why this matters.
