Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mathematics Abi is valued because the results are too bad – sharp criticism from the teachers’ association
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: In the inner-city high school in Rostock, high school graduates are preparing for the start of their exam (archive image)
© Bernd Wüstneck / DPA
The written mathematics Abitur in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is upgraded by one point – because of a large number of bad results. The German Teachers’ Association and business representatives sharply criticize the procedure.
Because of a large number of bad results, the written mathematics Abitur in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania upgraded by one grade point. The processing time of the tasks was assessed by experts afterwards as too short, said Minister of Education Simone Oldenburg (left) on Monday in Schwerin. In addition, this high school graduation class was in distance classes in the 10th grade from December to May due to the corona restrictions. According to the experts, this has a negative effect, especially in mathematics.
All those who have written a maths test, both basic course and advanced course students, receive the additional grade point. According to the Ministry, there is a choice between a written and an oral Abitur exam in the basic course. In the math basic course, the average of the written Abis was 4.0 or 4.2 points and thus significantly below the level of the previous year. Five points are required to pass the exam.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: grade point average significantly below the previous year
Especially in the basic math courses – there are two different ones – the written Abitur exam results had slid into the basement compared to the previous year. In the basic course with a scientific calculator (WTR) the average was 4.2 points, in the basic course with the computer algebra system (CAS) it was only 4.0. In the previous year, the averages were 5.6 and 4.9 points respectively. In the advanced math courses, the results looked a little better, but were also well below the average of the previous year.
After the poor results, a student from Wismar started an online petition that was signed by more than 1,000 people. In the other main subjects, the Abi results were said to be better and hardly differed from those of previous years. In 2021, the math Abi in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was even raised by two grade points due to poor results
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Sharp criticism from the teachers’ association
However, the German Teachers’ Association and business representatives sharply criticize the decision. This distorts the nationwide comparability of grades, said the new president of the teachers’ association, Stefan Düll, of the “Bild” newspaper. There are always deviations in the note cuts. “One must not fall into the trap of wanting to excuse everything with Corona in the future.” Düll has headed the Justus von Liebig High School in Neusäß near Augsburg since 2014.
Watch the video: “So embarrassing, I’m emigrating” – the best Twitter reactions to the postponed Abitur exams in NRW.
The general manager of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB), Felix Pakleppa, accused politicians of playing the wrong game. “You can miscalculate at school, but not on the construction site. The wall has to be straight,” he told the newspaper. The companies in his industry have to “retrain apprentices in math and German more and more often,” explained Pakleppa. “A tiler, for example, has to be able to calculate the floor. That has to be right in any case and mustn’t be wrong.” The President of the Federal Association of Freight Transport and Logistics (BGL), Dirk Engelhardt, also criticized the subsequent adjustment of grades.