Dear Kenyans,
Before I get into the immorality of the president admitting to militarizing the schools because of exams, let me go into what the research says about exam cheating.
Before I get into the immorality of the president admitting to militarizing the schools because of exams, let me go into what the research says about exam cheating.
1. Exam cheating rises when teachers teach to the test or announce to students that they care about grades. In other words, the more a teacher places emphasis on the exams or grade in class, the more likely a student is to cheat.
2. The more the students dislike the content being taught in class, the more likely they are to cheat.
3. And this is research from Kenya: the highest factor behind cheating in KCSE is the belief that that is the only entry ticket for university.
3. And this is research from Kenya: the highest factor behind cheating in KCSE is the belief that that is the only entry ticket for university.
In fact, one research showed that the second top motivation for students cheating in KCSE was a distant second by almost 40% to the top motivation for cheating, which is entry into the university.
Surely, this is research that the president can ask his advisers to consult.
Surely, this is research that the president can ask his advisers to consult.
And in the United States to where we're soon going to have a direct flight, the president should know that test cheating increased when Bush's "No child left behind," and Obama's "Race to the top" tagged teachers' performance and school funding to test scores.
And in case you think that exam cheating is unique to Kenya, check this case. The report here even states that the cheating remains rampant and hard to prove washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sh…
This case from India provides a spectacular picture of the lengths people will go to cheat. And this was for medical school admission. India's cheating for medical school is legendary, yet that's our salvation when it comes to healthcare. 
I've said before that the war on exam cheating is like the war on drugs. The more you criminalize and militarize it, the higher the cartels will charge for cheating and the greater the threat to the lives of teachers. KNUT and KUPPET should be warning GoK about that risk.
The war on drugs has claimed millions of lives, tortured millions more, and up to now has not been won. The same happened with the Prohibition era in the 1930s, in the US, where alcohol was banned, but the ban ended up enriching criminals like Al Capone.
The ban on drugs has enriched drug lords in South America, sustained terrorism, and now the West is slowly realizing there's no point banning marijuana either for medical or recreational use.
We need to read the same logic about exams.
We need to read the same logic about exams.
The way to minimize exam cheating is to make more opportunities for social mobility. Have entry exams to different courses, as @DavidNdii suggested. Have these exams more than once a year. nation.co.ke/oped/opinion/b…
Have more types of certification, like apprenticeships. Have more professional associations to certify their workers. Give HSCs to people who do their professions and trades proud. We can borrow this idea from France of honoring craftspeople en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meilleur_…
If we want cheating to go down, we must make it less necessarily. Social mobility and respect must stop depending on who one knows. And that's exactly where the president has failed, and now he's blaming bad parenting.
He's made the same argument about the rape of a toddler.
He's made the same argument about the rape of a toddler.
And on a slightly different note... what arrangement did the church of my heritage, the PCEA, make to get the president to attend a church service, with Amina Mohammed in tow, and get the hounds off their struggling university? Was it a Godly arrangement? the-star.co.ke/news/2018/10/2…
