Does this constitute snobbery?

[Pulcinella]

I help out (volunteer basis, no teacher training) at a local primary school.
On Thursday, the Year 6 group I work with had this question as part of their SATS preparation (you’ll have to imagine the layout).

Tick one box in each row to show whether the word ‘after’ is used as a subordinating conjunction or as a preposition.

He moved here after the war.
Entry is free after 5pm in the evening.
I went to the cinema after I had eaten my dinner.

Why on earth do you think they need to know this? I have lived to my ripe old age without knowing or caring.

We (teacher, teaching assistant, and me) assumed that the answer is preposition, preposition, conjunction!
The pupils get just one mark for getting all three right.

A simpler question (again one mark) was:
Circle one word in the sentence below that can be replaced with the word ‘if’.
My friend and I ride our bikes to school when the weather is good.

Again, what does that teach anybody?

[Padraig]

Again, what does that teach anybody?

How to read for comprehension?

[Dave2002]

The worst of it is, these institutions are presided over by so-called 'Executive Heads', non-academics parachuted in from the nebulous world of 'business' and paid astronomical salaries for basically trashing the legacy their predecessors had built up.

That's only partially true. Some of the people who become leaders in these organisations may have been teachers in the past, and in some cases good ones, but then realised that it was better for them to climb greasy poles, and sell off assets in the school(s) they have been involved in [e.g. playing fields, "spare" buildings] - possibly in return for building rights from developers in order to provide funds which arguably should have been provided in former times by the state in any case.

You are right though that some of the parachuted in people are not teachers, or academics, but manage to cream off a lot of the money which should be spent on teaching and facilities for the benefit of the students.

[teamsaint]

I help out (volunteer basis, no teacher training) at a local primary school.
On Thursday, the Year 6 group I work with had this question as part of their SATS preparation (you’ll have to imagine the layout).

Tick one box in each row to show whether the word ‘after’ is used as a subordinating conjunction or as a preposition.

He moved here after the war.
Entry is free after 5pm in the evening.
I went to the cinema after I had eaten my dinner.

Why on earth do you think they need to know this? I have lived to my ripe old age without knowing or caring.

We (teacher, teaching assistant, and me) assumed that the answer is preposition, preposition, conjunction!
The pupils get just one mark for getting all three right.

A simpler question (again one mark) was:
Circle one word in the sentence below that can be replaced with the word ‘if’.
My friend and I ride our bikes to school when the weather is good.

Again, what does that teach anybody?

It really is nonsense isn’t it ?
And plenty more where that came from, sadly. Having to push kids through utterly pointless hoops must be a major contributory factor to the numbers of teachers leaving the profession early.

[Dave2002]

I help out (volunteer basis, no teacher training) at a local primary school.
On Thursday, the Year 6 group I work with had this question as part of their SATS preparation (you’ll have to imagine the layout).

Tick one box in each row to show whether the word ‘after’ is used as a subordinating conjunction or as a preposition.

He moved here after the war.
Entry is free after 5pm in the evening.
I went to the cinema after I had eaten my dinner.

Why on earth do you think they need to know this? I have lived to my ripe old age without knowing or caring.

We (teacher, teaching assistant, and me) assumed that the answer is preposition, preposition, conjunction!
The pupils get just one mark for getting all three right.

A simpler question (again one mark) was:
Circle one word in the sentence below that can be replaced with the word ‘if’.
My friend and I ride our bikes to school when the weather is good.

Again, what does that teach anybody?

I'm surprised that students don't add in answers of their own - beginning with 'b' and ending with 'ks'.

[Pulcinella]

How to read for comprehension?

Oh, that's a completely different paper that they have to suffer!
But even worse is that they also get assessed on fluency (words per minute that they can read).
No comprehension or attention to sense/punctuation in that particular excercise.

[Conchis]

The native speaker of a language develops an instinctive understanding of grammar and parts of speech. I'm sure it's 'useful' to know the things Pulcinella describes but anyone not intent upon a career as a linguist (and how many are at primary school age?) can live well without them.

I believe it was the odious and useless Gove who deemed these things necessary.

[anotherbob]

Yes. Both. Disgraceful to think that way and even more disgraceful to take action against her over something so trivial.

Well put. It's disappointing that there have been so many equivocal responses.

[Dave2002]

I believe it was ... Gove who deemed these things necessary.

Mr Gove may mean well (though you probably don't agree), but he doesn't understand that different people should receive different treatment. One size fits all does not work for teaching people.

[Conchis]

Well put. It's disappointing that there have been so many equivocal responses.

Why? Is ignorance not depressing, as well as hard to forgive in certain cases?

[doversoul1]

The native speaker of a language develops an instinctive understanding of grammar and parts of speech. I'm sure it's 'useful' to know the things Pulcinella describes but anyone not intent upon a career as a linguist (and how many are at primary school age?) can live well without them.

I believe it was the odious and useless Gove who deemed these things necessary.

Knowing the grammar of your own language is very useful when you want to learn another language. Many or most things we learned at school as children were not ‘useful’ things. I am all for teaching children ‘useless’ knowledge. It’s all depends on how it is taught or you could say what it is for.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Entry is free after 5pm in the evening.

I hope that some of the kids pointed out that "5pm" couldn't be "in the morning"!

[Bryn]

I hope that some of the kids pointed out that "5pm" couldn't be "in the morning"!

Though in the summer, it could count as afternoon, rather than evening.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Though in the summer, it could count as afternoon, rather than evening.

But wouldn't that distinction suggest that the discount doesn't apply in Summer?

[Padraig]

Oh, that's a completely different paper that they have to suffer!
But even worse is that they also get assessed on fluency (words per minute that they can read).
No comprehension or attention to sense/punctuation in that particular excercise.

1 I think all reading is for comprehension, not just the 'comprehension paper'
2 Fluency in reading is surely helped by comprehension
3 See 2, plus a chance to exercise pupils' 'instinctive understanding' of punctuation grammar etc.

It would help if we had seen the teacher's notes for this part of the course... you know aims etc