Guiding question: How does the author of this blog post attempt to influence Mr Jones’ perception of the cancellation of the May examinations?
“May 2020 examinations will no longer be held” is a blog post published on March 23 2020 by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to announce the cancellation of their programme’s IBDP examinations. The post was directed to the stakeholders of the DP examinations, which includes students who will be doing the exams, as well as teachers and parents of those said students, and especially Mr Jones, who classifies as both of the latter categories. The post utilizes bullet points and visual images as well as an admiring and caring yet vague tone to skirt around the feelings and the concerns of said stakeholders such as Mr Jones’, about the methodology of how the students’ grades will be calculated.
The main heading is straight to the point, informing stakeholders about the cancellation of the May 2020 exams. In contrast, the subheading above the main text “Our students…extraordinary pandemic” uses a tone full of admiration for their students’ willpower and ability to continue learning during a pandemic whilst addressing nothing of particular importance in regards to the actual decision. Instead, it serves as a buffer to drop the ball on the news of exams being cancelled and the students’ hard work over the past 2 years being wasted. By placing the students on a pedestal and using the excuse of their well-being as the main deciding factor, they attempt to use pathos in order to garner sympathy over having to make such a difficult decision to cancel exams in order to mitigate future controversy that will surely arise. This is further shown by the use of words such as “well-being”, “future stages in life”, and “extraordinary pandemic”. The use of the word “extraordinary” is used to stress the obstacles that everyone has faced as a result of Covid-19, hoping that stakeholders such as Mr Jones agree and understand as they also can recall their own struggles because of covid. As the main heading may be a bolt out of the blue to stakeholders, the 2nd heading serves to alleviate the shock that they feel. The first paragraph also utilizes this technique to serve the same purpose of placating stakeholders. This is because the author knows that one subheading that consists of one sentence is definitely not enough to placate an angry stakeholder such as Mr Jones.
The second section consists of the IBO’s explanation of what actions will be taken in regard to the May 2020 examinations. The use of a colon indicates that the following text will be a concise summary of details that will describe the methodology of how the students’ grades will be decided. However, nothing is of particular note; the first bullet point reiterates the title, and the second bullet point is vague regarding the procedures. The only thing that can be taken from it is that coursework will be used as an indicator of a student’s academic level. The author then attempts to reassure stakeholders such as Mr Jones by bolstering their programme’s reputation by ensuring “assessment expertise, rigor, and quality control” for May 2020 students. The specific methodology is not specified, showing a lack of foresight and contingency planning in regards to the pandemic as they may not have predicted the severity it would reach or rather an avoidance in order to steer clear of criticism due to the high difficulty to ensure all stakeholders are happy with the actions that will be taken. Different regions were affected with varying levels of severity and the pandemic was still relatively new with many countries struggling to contain the virus. If exams were to be held, the IBO would have been accused of undermining the health of students, who for the majority are children under the age of 18. The exams are of great importance to these hopeful students who aim to go to their desired university. The stakes are high. Hence, the IBO must tread carefully to not anger stakeholders, which they attempt to do by skirting around the actual steps that will be taken for the May 2020 examinations. The actual information that they say has all the details will be sent at a later date in order to do final checks before no further changes can be done.
The author uses an image of two happy children playing to emphasize their utmost care for the students’, who are children, well-being and happiness. The children are playing to emphasize their innocence and young age, to show that the IBO are a non-profit organisation specializing in the education of children, whom they care about very much. The smiles on the childrens’ faces are reflective of the happiness IB students get from studying the IB because of how much the IBO cares about their students’ well-being. This reinforces their reasoning for cancelling the May 2020 examinations which were for the well-being and safety of their students. Thus, the author plays up the IBO’s image and reputation as an organization that cares very much about their students to reiterate that they are doing this to achieve the “best outcomes” for students. Mr Jones, who would be reading this, would understandably agree that this was the best situation for the children, who don’t know what’s best for them.
The last section is a link to their Covid-19 resources for remote learning. As the pandemic has disrupted all around the world, students and teachers alike are struggling with either learning or teaching remotely. This again shows their thoughtfulness and dedication in ensuring students get a high-quality education. “Inspiring stories” are also linked in order to reinvigorate students’ and teachers’ as the pandemic as led to low levels of motivation due to the lack of face-to-face lessons. However, this also serves in their best interests as the degradation in the quality of education that students get will erode their reputation as an educational service and programme.
In conclusion, the blog post serves to announce the cancellation of May 2020 examinations and placate the stakeholders who will be angered and concerned by the news. However, rather than actually giving details in regards to the methodology of how academic results will be calculated, it instead works more on reinforcing the IBO’s image as a rigorous yet high-quality education course due to the blow to reputation that this could lead to.
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