Malta’s Pravda

It seems to me that the English MATSEC Board is the remains of the once glorious Russian newspaper, Pravda. The newspaper, which its title in Russian means Truth, was the Communist Party’s vehicle of misinformation and lies.

I am writing you this piece shortly after my friend received her English MATSEC revision of paper report, supposedly compiled by a well-intending educator within the establishment. Her morale, being already low after receiving a result back in July which she believes is unfair and unjust, continued its free-fall today as she read through the examiner’s comments.

The comments included a frontal attack on the candidate with the use of adjectives such as “superficial” and “naïve”. Mind you, the same candidate was deemed as possessing a mature attitude in the other A Level she sat for, Maltese, where she got an A. She sat for this exam just seven days after she sat for her English paper.

I fully believe that the MATSEC system, apart from playing the role of a sieve between higher secondary education and tertiary education, is also responsible in building Malta’s future generation and assessing the educational system’s success in creating mature individuals ready to face the world’s challenges. My beliefs were let down as my friend read to me the report on the phone shortly after she received it.

If a system is truly bound to create fully mature individuals capable of achieving success, and is not committed to keep numbers and statistical data in check, then it would never strip its candidates from their human dignity and reduce them to mere dart-boards, exposed to examiners’ attacks.

If a system is truly committed to eliminate the naïve approach to life then it would surely engage itself in constructive criticism, and not the opposite. The destructive forces present in the examiner’s report I had time to share, are more suited to King Lear’s “marble-hearted fiends” (quoted from Shakespeare) than to an educator with good intentions.

I believe that an educator role is to build, never to destroy. I firmly believe that an educator is a pivotal link between the present and the future. He has the power to decide what values are transmitted to our future generations. This is why I appreciate and thank all those educators who try to transmit the values of respect for human dignity, constructive criticism and a real commitment to reveal a edifying truth. On the other hand, I condemn all those who pass on the negative values of cynicism and fatalism, both of which are blatant lies in face of the human being’s true power: his ability to succeed.

This is why I believe that the English MATSEC Board is Malta’s Pravda, as it is putting black on white, every single year, the greatest lie that can ever be said to the human being: that he’s a failure. It distorts the truth behind a disappointing result and, in order to keep all numbers in check, murders the whole notion of what education stands for. Just like how Pravda sacrificed the Communist Project to keep bosses in their places.

Wouldn’t have been a lot better if the report contained tips on how a candidate should improve his skills thus showing him a pro-active way of doing things? Wouldn’t that have been a positive value to transmit to our future generations?