CERTIFICATION OR APPLICATION: WHAT IS THE REAL TEST OF KNOWLEDGE?

CERTIFICATION OR APPLICATION: WHAT IS THE REAL TEST OF KNOWLEDGE?

                Certification is not the yardstick to the real test of knowledge. Rather, it is Application.

To demystify this and provide rationales, let us understand what certification and application implies.

            According to Wikipedia, the world book encyclopedia, certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person or organization.

            Certification, according to the concise oxford English Dictionary, defines it as an official document attesting to a particular level of requirement or achievement.

            Certification therefore refers to an official document which recognizes or attests to a particular achievement.

            Meanwhile, Application according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines it as the ‘practical’ act of putting something to use.

            Longman Dictionary puts it as the practical purpose for which a machine, idea, knowledge… can be used, or a situation when this can be used.

            Therefore, Application is the practical purpose for which something, especially knowledge acquired, can be put to use.

In the light of the above, certification is based on the ‘knowledge-certificate.’ Whereas, application emphasizes on the ‘practical knowledge’, which is the real test of knowledge.

            Certification, which is defined by examinations, is not a real test of knowledge in the sense that the human brain works like a computer that is embedded with a long-term and short-term memory. The long-term aspect requires a long time to gather things into that memory than the short-term memory. Now, when faced with an examination, at that moment, the individual may be in a tensed situation, or might be enthralled by an emotional upset. For the person to be able to retrieve or recall all that he has fully read at that point in time might become a problem, recognizing that a ‘time frame’ is given. Does this mean that the person does not have knowledge about it? Certainly No! But because those things have been stored, it needs some processing for them to be retrieved.

            Additionally, many people indulge in what is referred to in French as: “La cram la pour.” This is attributable to exam pressure, pressure to obtain certificate, the hunger in view of work and better tomorrow, not really to have it and make an impact. The aftermath being that the individual cannot defend or practically put to use what was showcased during the examination.

            After examinations, many ladies barter their body to get ‘better’ grades and certificates than others who studied doggedly and toiled day and night, and because of maybe, a bad handwriting or grammatical errors, had a lower grade and thus, certificate thereon. Certification does not designate that a person has a sufficient knowledge in a subject area or field of study; it attests that the individual only passed the test. Even though that exam test students and sets a goal for them to work towards, it still confines and traps us into having only a single shot at success. And if we don’t achieve that goal, it could mar one’s career. This ideology of paper over performance shows that our knowledge and future is being judged on a sheet of paper rather than actual practical performance. And when we are graded with mere numbers and letters, it becomes our labels, a new identity.

However, Application which is the real test of knowledge involves practicals that perhaps, after learning something, the individual be taken to the field of the acquired knowledge, and given some work to experiment on. Because of the knowledge accumulated, he will know how to carry it out and be able to reach out as an ace. So bringing real or true test of knowledge to the practical aspect, doing it ‘real’, making that knowledge come to reality is the wisest recipe for success and the bench mark for a test of true knowledge. Practical knowledge enables the holder relate with such knowledge effectively. Unlike examination which tests one’s ability to remember fast, the practical aspect puts into operation all that you know in a field of study; which is the technical know-how.

Furthermore, drawing reference from Noam Chomsky’s discourse wherein he expounded on competence and performance, he explained that competence is an idealized capacity of knowledge one has on something, while performance defines that competence or is the direct reflection of competence. His view supports the practical use of knowledge.

In a similar vein, it is the ‘application’, practicals or performances that really test one’s knowledge not the present certification that has become immensely flawed. When someone is really tested through ‘application’, such individual can impact it to others.

Therefore, Application, not Certification, is the real test of knowledge.

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