No No No No No

NZQA has said that students will not be penalised for using text message abbreviations in exams!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m sorry but what a fucked decision.

A formal exam for a qualification should have answers in proper English. Can you imagine a history essay with stuff like

“King Henry 8 his meal, then looked for his wife. “404 where she is” said his aide. Henry said AFAIK she should be in bed so find her ASAP. He went to his bedroom and Kathryn said BGWM. He did a KOTL and they DTD. However she was not as GR8 as Anne, Henry’s FWB, so he KHAO”

I don’t want to sound like an 80 year old moaning about standards in education, but really this is too much. A generation of students who can’t actually write in English must be avoided. Almost too late – I shudder whenever I get an e-mail from one of my staff which is written in text message form.

UPDATE: A few people are having problems working out all the abbreviations. Here’s the translations:

8 = ate
404 = I don’t know
AFAIK = As far as I know
ASAP = As soon as possible
BGWM = Be gentle with me
KOTL = Kiss on the lips
DTD = Did the deed (had sex)
GR8 = Great
FWB = Friend with Benefits (casual sex partner)
KHAO = Kicked Her Ass Out (dumped her)