Essay 50 (Exam Stress and Creativity)

Most education systems rely on examinations to encourage children to study, but as a result, children suffer from too much stress and they never learn to be creative.  Therefore, exams should be abolished.  To what extend do you agree or disagree?

As a method of motivating students to take education seriously, examinations do exert a certain amount of stress on them.  However, this does not affect their creative development and hence, there is no need to abolish examinations.

To start with, unlike common perception, examinations these days are not all about rote learning and memorising, but also encouraging children to research and form their own opinions about various topics.  For example, in language and literature examinations children are often asked about their views about  a novel or poem.  This encourages them to read books more seriously and develop their own perspectives.  Similarly, in science practical examinations, students are required to conduct experiments and arrive at new findings.  Activities like these clearly show that examinations can enhance the creative abilities of children.

Moreover, even if examinations result in a certain level of anxiety or pressure, it should only be considered reasonable as they would inspire students to work harder to have a sense of achievement.  In other words, a fair amount of tension helps children to make greater efforts for achieving higher grades or marks.  Researches have proved that stress can produce favourable chemicals in the body, like adrenalin to help body to aim higher.

On the other hand, examinations do lead to excess stress in certain children, which is mainly due to lack of preparation or pressure from family members or teachers to perform well.  Moreover, a certain amount of rote learning is involved in examinations which can reduce the creativity of children to some extent.  Nonetheless, proper guidance and counselling can help children to handle their exam related anxieties successfully.  Moreover, more innovative ways of conducting tests to reduce the need for memorising can help children to enhance their creative abilities.

In conclusion, it unreasonable to ban examinations because they play a very vital role in helping children to approach studies with greater earnestness.  It also helps to develop their imaginative expressions rather than suppressing them.