: Trend Task: Letters

Approach: Station Level: Year 8 Focus:     Identifying points of view  Resources: None 152Kb
Questions/instructions: A newspaper reported what Professor Smart said to parents. 1. Read what the newspaper reported. 2. Some people have written letters to the editor of the newspaper about what Professor Smart said. Read the letters then answer the questions. More school work, less sport says professor The professor told parents at a school meeting that sport should not waste school time. Instead, there should be more time spent on real subjects of maths, English and science so that we are a smart country, and students will get jobs. He said students should do their sports in the weekends with sports clubs. Schools and their students are spending too much time on sport and not enough on real learning, says Professor Smart.     Letter 1 Dear Editor Although I agree with Professor Smart that we need to be a smart country, I do not think that no sport at school is the answer. Schools should give students experience in all things including sport. Sport teaches team work and self-discipline. Yes, maths, English and science are important but so are sport, art, music, social studies and technology. John Smith Letter 2 Dear Editor Professor Smart says that students are wasting their time at school when they do sport. New Zealand is good at sport, and we need to keep this up. May Jones Letter 3 Dear Editor I think Professor Smart is right. My child does two hours of sport at school each week, but is getting low marks in maths. I’d much rather she did more maths because this would help her to get a job. Susan Peters Letter 4 Dear Editor There are heaps of opinions about what students should and should not be doing at school. Professor Smart says sport should be dropped in favour of ‘real subjects’. Some schools already do sport in weekends. Hine Miller
	% responses 2004 ('00)
		y8
1. Which of the letters agrees fully with Professor Smart?
letter 3		74 (74)
2. Which of the letters agrees partly with Professor Smart?
letter 1		68 (67)
3. Which of the letters disagrees with Professor Smart?
letter 2		74 (71)
4. Which of the letters doesn’t agree or disagree with Professor Smart?
letter 4		64 (62)
Total score:               4		49 (47)
3		10 (9)
2		20 (22)
1		14 (15)
0		7 (7)
Commentary There was no meaningful change in performance between 2000 and 2004.

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