Job Discussion Forums

[Hsinchuguy]

I work at a school - the International Trade Institute, or ITI as it is more commonly known, that passes absolutely everyone with flying colours, I mean nothing lower than A's all around. In my opinion this is not only a rip-off for students, but is a slap in the face to the teacher whose professional opinion is not respected. This really irks me, has anyone else had any experience with this sort of situation?
Lest you think that ITI is some fly-by-night operation, it's a highly respected "institution" which is actually owned by the government's Ministry of Economic Affairs.
At the end of the last semester, as I was calculating grades I was actually told by my supervisor, another foreigner, that no one could get a grade lower than 80 regardless of what their grades actually added up to in the end and that if necessary I should fudge grades to reflect the school's unofficial policy.
I'm angry about this and I'd like to hear from others if this sort of thing is commonplace in Taiwan.

[killian]

sounds about par for the course. i rationalized it as such: "give them all A's, let the free market sort em out". yeah, it is cold and insensitive but the university i was with was more of a warehouse than an institution of higher learning anyway. you let it eat you up, but the boss may very well alter your score sheets after you submit them.

[brian]

I think the reason for this is two fold:

1. Financial � schools are worried about losing students as a result of failing them.
2. Face � it is obviously a loss of face for students to be failed; and equally a loss of face for a school to fail it�s students, which may be construed that the teachers don�t teach well.

While these are the reasons I don�t buy it.

Surely a school that could guarantee parents or the students themselves (adults) that each student in their class has earned the right to be there. In fact I think that this would be a great marketing tool for schools considering the amount of competition out there. Sure some parents wouldn�t buy it and would want their little darling to advance through the levels, even though the further they advance the further they fall behind. For some it is just the undeniable faith in their own kids, for others it�s just the day care syndrome (as long as they are at school they must be learning something!). I for one would prefer a school that graded students. I would know then that the class was of equal levels, and that I had earned the right to graduate upwards.

The school that takes the initiative to stand up to parents in this way will no doubt meet some resistance from some parents, but once word gets around then other parents would travel just to get their kids in a good program. You would really be getting rid of the kids and parents that you don�t want anyway. Teachers would appreciate this too. Sure they might have to work harder to make sure that their kids can advance, but the reward would be there in knowing that they are actually learning something. It would be a hell of a lot easier to teach classes of equal levels too!

[Taylor]

There is a very well-known test in Taiwan called the GEPT.

It has five levels--each testing the four skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing).

If students pass courses at ITI but fail the corresponding level of GEPT, it will eventually be found out that grades are bogus.

You gotta figure the students talk about grades among themselves--so it is likely not a big deal to them anyway.

Thanks for being such a concerned teacher, but this is one thing that you should NOT lose any sleep over.

C. Taylor
(7+ years in Kaohsiung)

[Aristotle]

Give everybody a 100% just to be fair.