Educators should base their assessment of students' learning not on students' grasp of facts but on the ability to explain the ideas, trends, and concepts that those facts illustrate.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or d

It is popularly believed that teachers ought to base their estimation of students' academic performance not on students' grasp of facts but on the ability to explain the ideas and concepts which those facts demonstrate. Although many of us concur with the stance because we intuitively accept that person who comprehends an idea should be able to explain it to others, I disagree with the issue due to the fact that not always ability to explain reflects real knowledge.

To begin with, initially the proposed idea seems to be not only attractive but accurate as well. We all know from our own experience difference between memorizing facts or concepts and their understanding, for example, one may mechanically memorize that Darwin in his famous work - the Origin of species - proved that evolution exists but if the person cannot explain how, for instance, by using this theory a human's eye was developed the usefulness of this remembered material strives to zero. Consequently, from this viewpoint the proposed policy seems to be reasonable but may we say that all people have the same ability to explain?

Sadly, the answer on this question is "no" and the proposed idea mistakenly associate students' knowledge with their ability to convey their understanding of it to educator. Some students are more eloquent than others. For instance, it is a well-known fact that some of us are more prone to precise subjects such math and physics and some of people have inclination to literature and other humanitarian sciences. Consequently, although some of us are better in explaining of the ideas than others, the quality of explanations does not always mirror the deepness of student's understanding. Thus, the idea has some flaws which undermine its usefulness due to the fact that some students may be unscrupulously be discriminated by it.

Furthermore, even if we assume that all students had ability to explain concepts and ideas equally well, those explanations may not reflect students' knowledge, yet, because those explanations may be memorized as well. In this case, the best way to check the students' learning is to see if a student is able to use a concept or a theory in practice. To illustrate an idea, we may return to the example about Darwin's theory. If a student has managed to explain the idea of evolution, for example, by repeating text-book instances, may we aver that he or she knows it whereas one cannot use it to explain development of a bird's wing? As far as I am concerned the answer on this question is "no" and thus the idea proposed by the issue is inaccurate.

In conclusion, although at the first glance, the idea that students' ability to explain an idea, a trend or theory is a decent way to measure students' understanding, we have found some shortages which undermine its reasonability due to the fact that not all students' have equal ability to convey their thoughts and that this ability does not always mirror real students' understanding of the discussed idea, trend.