What's the bleedin point??
Right. So I'm gonna talk shop for a moment. It's not a shop that I'd like to talk about... like I wish I could talk pounds of torque, and RPMs and zero to 60 in how ever many seconds.... but I'm talking school here. I'm a teacher by pay-cheque.
So finals were last week, and after a ka-razy week of marking all the mistakes on the exams (went a little overboard on the marking. could have just slashed it as a wrong answer, but the dedicated teacher in me decided to decipher what the little angels were trying to say, and then in my snazzy red pen, I wrote it in propper English... so they could learn from their mistakes... if they care)
So exams count for 50% of their grade, 10% from a participation sheet, 20% from their class work with a Japanese teacher, and 20% from yours truly. As I'm dollin' out my 20% worth, and givin a fair amount of 17s and 18s in the process (cause language is about practice, and if they try to use English in class, I'll give "em a good grade, yeah) I ask my co-worker about something.
She throws back the "Yeah, that is a good question... (nuance of "more importantly" coming up)... your grades are too high."
Turns out my school has a 70% policy. As in... the highest grade that can be awarded is a 70%. I knew we can't fail kids, and that grades are adjusted... or that extra homework is given to failures (er... kids that are failing) to bump them up... but I didn't know that grades have to be bumped down as well.
So, even though the Mikas and Yuinas and Masatos try every class, and hand in all their homework, and ask me questions... the ceiling they can look forward to is 70%, even though I would say they gave a 90% effort all year. If a kid does too well, the teacher gets in trouble for making it too easy. I asked "Well what about the kid that studies a lot and does better than everyone in class?" The answer was "Yes, some kids study... It's a shame, but It can't be helped."
As a result of this, I had to re-calculate all their grades adjusting for a bell curve that isn't real. So my question is what's the point? Why give a grade at all? I mean the bigger the scale, the better you can give a kid a specific grade based on performance... but as it stands, the area from 15 - 20 (out of 20) are right off limits. Why not just pass? Cause fail is off limits too. Why go to school? Why get a job? Why not say "Fuck yer 70%, I earned 71! And I'm off to try my luck in Tokyo" or better yet, some mountain filled with trees, rivers and wild boar?
I wonder if the kids know about all this?
So finals were last week, and after a ka-razy week of marking all the mistakes on the exams (went a little overboard on the marking. could have just slashed it as a wrong answer, but the dedicated teacher in me decided to decipher what the little angels were trying to say, and then in my snazzy red pen, I wrote it in propper English... so they could learn from their mistakes... if they care)
So exams count for 50% of their grade, 10% from a participation sheet, 20% from their class work with a Japanese teacher, and 20% from yours truly. As I'm dollin' out my 20% worth, and givin a fair amount of 17s and 18s in the process (cause language is about practice, and if they try to use English in class, I'll give "em a good grade, yeah) I ask my co-worker about something.
She throws back the "Yeah, that is a good question... (nuance of "more importantly" coming up)... your grades are too high."
Turns out my school has a 70% policy. As in... the highest grade that can be awarded is a 70%. I knew we can't fail kids, and that grades are adjusted... or that extra homework is given to failures (er... kids that are failing) to bump them up... but I didn't know that grades have to be bumped down as well.
So, even though the Mikas and Yuinas and Masatos try every class, and hand in all their homework, and ask me questions... the ceiling they can look forward to is 70%, even though I would say they gave a 90% effort all year. If a kid does too well, the teacher gets in trouble for making it too easy. I asked "Well what about the kid that studies a lot and does better than everyone in class?" The answer was "Yes, some kids study... It's a shame, but It can't be helped."
As a result of this, I had to re-calculate all their grades adjusting for a bell curve that isn't real. So my question is what's the point? Why give a grade at all? I mean the bigger the scale, the better you can give a kid a specific grade based on performance... but as it stands, the area from 15 - 20 (out of 20) are right off limits. Why not just pass? Cause fail is off limits too. Why go to school? Why get a job? Why not say "Fuck yer 70%, I earned 71! And I'm off to try my luck in Tokyo" or better yet, some mountain filled with trees, rivers and wild boar?
I wonder if the kids know about all this?
posted by Akira Sundance at 4:23 PM
1 Comments:
You have now found your calling. It is your duty to let the kids know-I mean ALL the kids. That is so bloody shitty (cause we know how bad bloody shit can be). 70%? seventy percent? 70 percent? that's crap. really why bother? way to instill some pride
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