The Dying Civilization

The Dying Civilization

              The Religious Fanaticism brought the greatest destruction to the world. The dominant people failed to understand the teaching of their scriptures and misguided the entire clan. The Orthodox Tradition brought destruction to the Humanity in the form of loss of life and resources along with the destruction of some World Heritage sites which were closely related to Indian culture including the most ancient centre of learning – Ancient Nalanda University and world’s Largest and Tallest sculpture at Bahamian Buddhist statue.

                Before the advent of religion, people were busy in the struggle for life. People, throughout the world, developed in different aspects of life. Even, they developed the process of worship Nature, without the conscience of religion. They worshiped Nature in the form of Sun, Earth, Sky, Fire, water, Trees, Planets and other imaginary celestial figures. They created Myths and Mythology. But their sole intention was the complete development of the individual. Gradually, they developed qualities like – Ambition, Greed, Jealousy, and the habit of Conquering others. When, they could not find the animal to compete with, they started fighting with their fellow man. The power and ambition to dominate others developed the art of war and battle.

              They developed administrative ability and skill to lead the community. They became the king and ruler of the kingdom. Their ambition involved other fellow man to join them in their war and battle for the sake of country and people so that they could be able to survive on the earth. Thus civilization formed and took shape. The people became civilized. They developed language, culture, art literature and philosophy.

            They gradually developed human qualities like – living together, helping each other in the time of need and danger. They developed we feeling, love, compassion, kindness. Honesty and truthfulness were their natural quality. They started developing and flourishing day by day, year after year, centuries after centuries. So many cultures and civilizations were born throughout the different parts of the world. Some of the ancient civilizations may be mentioned here as – Indus valley Civilization or ancient Indian Civilization, Civilization of Mesopotamia or Egyptian Civilization, Iranian Civilization or Dazla-Farat valley Civilization and Hwang-Ho river valley civilization or Chinese civilization etc. So many culture were born in different parts of the world.  

             None of the civilization created greatest threat to mankind but one. That one started capturing the world through their orthodox tradition and violence. Their philosophy may engulf the human community one day but violence will remain be there. They are winning but humanity is defeated. That is the greatest loss of the world. There are people dying for food. The poor are exploited by the so called elite class. Technology is developing and it is affecting the food sector also. The farmers of the country now a days applying the science in the form of oxy-toxin. They are using chemical fertilizer and pesticide which are creating fatal diseases and instead of giving life they taking life of the people and earning handsome money. Such stories are endless. The people who are involved in such activities, are educated class. And that is the greatest pang of life. You can say it paradox or even, irony of life, but ultimately, such education is the enemy of humanity. Most of the people are involved in earning money by any mean - taking the path of corruption and criminal activity.

         Human trafficking is another great issue of this modern world and the gift of modern technology and advanced scientific development. People of all age are kidnapped for organ transplantation. This transplantation business is running by so called physicians and surgeons who have the precision to perform intricate surgery and such skills are the result of scientific and technological development. We have studied that big fish usually eats small fishes, but today, rich people are eating the poor people. Who can call such activity as the symbol of human development? Who are really concerned about such events? Who are acting to prevent such mishap?

            The only cause of such destruction to humanity is the greed of people – to earn more and more money – to lead a luxurious life. It can be said the root cause of all crime is the desire to enjoy physical pleasure of all kinds – sensual pleasure. It’s a matter of great shame on the part humanity that a Man eating another Man. This is the indication of the dying civilization.

Concept of Evaluation

Assessment for learning is the part of effective planning of teaching and learning. Thus, the understanding on what, why, and how on assessment seem really urgent for teachers. It is related to the differences between measurement, assessment, evaluation, and testing, cause of assessment, comparing assessment versus evaluation and grading, key concepts in assessment, types and approaches to assessment, assessment on language competence, principles for good assessment, and testing. It is expected to guide the assessment training and professional development of teachers and administrators to run more productive assessment in English Language Teaching (ELT).

Burhan (2009) states, “Evaluation seems to have the broadest coverage”. Citing Ten Brink (1974), he defines evaluation as the process of obtaining information and using it to form judgements which in turn are used in decision making. The process is made up of five stages:

1)      Preparing,

2)      Collecting the data,

3)      Making judgments,

4)      Making decision, and

5)      Reporting.

Burhan (2009) states, that assessment does not include decision making and reporting. It focuses mainly on data gathering and placing a value on something. Assessment seems to cover stages of preparing, collecting date and making judgement in the evaluation process.

The term testing, is the narrowest in scope. It is one of the techniques for collecting the data or scores. It can be used with other techniques such as observation and interviews. It does not deal with making judgements. One connotative meaning of assessment is that it is used or done both in formal situation and in informal ways. As complementary efforts, informal assessment is encouraged to be done to get additional data in addition to the data obtained from formal testing.

Kizlik (2010) elucidates some differences on measurement, assessment, and evaluation. He states that measurement refers to the process by which the attributes or dimensions of some physical object are determined. Assessment is, therefore, quite different from measurement, and has uses that suggest very different purposes. Assessment is a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective or goal.

Assessment is a broad term that includes testing. A test is a special form of assessment. Tests are assessments made under contrived circumstances especially so that they may be administered. All tests are assessments, but all assessments are not tests. We test at the end of a lesson or unit. Whether implicit or explicit, assessment is most usefully connected to some goal or objective for which the assessment is designed. A test or assessment yields information relative to an objective or goal. In that sense, we test or assess to determine whether or not an objective or goal has been obtained.

Assessment of skill attainment is rather straightforward. Either the skill exists at some acceptable level or it doesn’t. Skills are readily demonstrable. Assessment of understanding is much more difficult and complex. Skills can be practiced; understandings cannot. We can assess a person’s knowledge in a variety of ways, but there is always a leap, an inference that we make about what a person does in relation to what it signifies about what he knows.

Evaluation is perhaps the most complex and least understood of the terms. Inherent idea of evaluation is "value." When we evaluate, we engage in some process that is designed to provide information that help us make a judgement about a given situation.

Generally, any evaluation process requires information about the situation in question. A situation is an umbrella term that takes into account such ideas as objectives, goals, standards, procedures, and so on. When we evaluate, we say that the process yields information regarding the worthiness, appropriateness, goodness, validity, legality, etc., of something for which a reliable measurement or assessment has been made.

The concept of evaluation was introduced by Benjamin S. Bloom. Evaluation is broader term in which test and examinations rest. It is not only concerned with the assessment of students’ achievement but with the whole process of education. Evaluation has been defined by different educationists in their own way:

“Evaluation is a new technical term introduced to design a more comprehensive concept of measurement.” – J. W. Wrightstone

“Evaluation is a process of ascertaining or judging the value or amount of something by careful appraisal.” – Good

“Evaluation is a continuous process. It forms an integral part of the total system of education and is intimately related to educational objectives.” – N. C. R. E. T.

 Thus evaluation is a continuous process, of education in relation to the achievement certain pre-determined objectives. It goes on constantly during lesson and units and is closely related to the teachers’ goal and point of views of English teaching. It focuses on the finding out how far students have learned as consequences of teaching.