Dear Editor,
The TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz match aired on Friday, January 18 between Excelsior High School and Campion College has left many persons quite bitter and disillusioned.
The match ended 49 - 47 in favour of Excelsior. After all queries were done in the studio the score was still 49 - 47 in Excelsior's favour. The competitors for both teams were arranged on the set and the captain for the Excelsior team was to give his victory speech. There was an interruption and the judges and the team coaches were called to a meeting in the control room.
Lo and behold, upon emerging from the control room it was announced that Excelsior had eight points deducted from their score which meant that Campion were now declared the victors.
Four points were deducted because it was determined that the answer given to a Chemistry question was now wrong. The question had been queried in the studio by Campion's coaches and the judges had dismissed their query, saying that the answer that was given by Excelsior was correct.
So the question that had been deemed correct in public was now incorrect after the private meeting. It should be pointed out that the exact question was asked in a Schools' Challenge match between Kingston College and Oberlin in 2012, and the same answer, carbon 14, was given and accepted as correct, without any issues raised by anyone. How can an answer which was correct last year and correct in studio this year become incorrect in the control room of TVJ?
Excelsior was also penalised four points for responding without being verbally acknowledged. Nobody on the set, including the quizmaster by his own admission, had realised that he had not acknowledged Excelsior. He had ample time to acknowledge the team but didn't. Even though the quizmaster publicly said the error was his, the team was still penalised.
In the first round of the competition, Campion answered a Math question incorrectly. The quizmaster told them it was incorrect and then Campion's score went from seven to eight. Do we award points for incorrect answers?
Mr Editor, I would like TVJ to recognise that this situation affects the Excelsior and Campion teams. It also affects TVJ and those of us who are educators, because we sound irrelevant and outdated when we advocate the benefits of hard work.
Darron Fraser
darron_f@hotmail.com
Bitter and disillusioned over Schools' Challenge Quiz match
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The TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz match aired on Friday, January 18 between Excelsior High School and Campion College has left many persons quite bitter and disillusioned.
The match ended 49 - 47 in favour of Excelsior. After all queries were done in the studio the score was still 49 - 47 in Excelsior's favour. The competitors for both teams were arranged on the set and the captain for the Excelsior team was to give his victory speech. There was an interruption and the judges and the team coaches were called to a meeting in the control room.
Lo and behold, upon emerging from the control room it was announced that Excelsior had eight points deducted from their score which meant that Campion were now declared the victors.
Four points were deducted because it was determined that the answer given to a Chemistry question was now wrong. The question had been queried in the studio by Campion's coaches and the judges had dismissed their query, saying that the answer that was given by Excelsior was correct.
So the question that had been deemed correct in public was now incorrect after the private meeting. It should be pointed out that the exact question was asked in a Schools' Challenge match between Kingston College and Oberlin in 2012, and the same answer, carbon 14, was given and accepted as correct, without any issues raised by anyone. How can an answer which was correct last year and correct in studio this year become incorrect in the control room of TVJ?
Excelsior was also penalised four points for responding without being verbally acknowledged. Nobody on the set, including the quizmaster by his own admission, had realised that he had not acknowledged Excelsior. He had ample time to acknowledge the team but didn't. Even though the quizmaster publicly said the error was his, the team was still penalised.
In the first round of the competition, Campion answered a Math question incorrectly. The quizmaster told them it was incorrect and then Campion's score went from seven to eight. Do we award points for incorrect answers?
Mr Editor, I would like TVJ to recognise that this situation affects the Excelsior and Campion teams. It also affects TVJ and those of us who are educators, because we sound irrelevant and outdated when we advocate the benefits of hard work.
Darron Fraser
darron_f@hotmail.com
Bitter and disillusioned over Schools' Challenge Quiz match
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