Gaming the system

When there’s a score we want to see it go up; we want to optimise it, and so we identify the rules to manipulate the numbers rather than what the numbers are supposed to mean. It doesn’t end in schools, nations can also be obsessed with it. It is true that numbers, labels once put together with names can shame or elevate and are used to change cultures.

The Brits are pretty good at this. And the world learns from that, which is where voluntary disclosures become part of the decarbonisation game and so it goes on. It can be used for good but most of the time, it reaches some kind of straining point and gets abused. Greenwashing is an example of that sort of thing.

So what can education do to remind our generations and the future about upholding the spirit of things rather than just their form. What can education do to get students to think through the meaning of grades and what they have made them to mean before dishing out grades like everyone know what it is for? How can we make education better, to be about learning the content than learning the exam techniques?

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