Job Discussion Forums

[kungfuman]

I work in an "International" school that isn't really an international school. It's mostly Chinese students but has a few dozen Taiwanese, Koreans, and other nationalities for the student body.

End of the year is here and I was talking to a grade 2 teacher about my grades.

She told me she was jealous of me. Why, cause in a few days I have 10 weeks paid holiday till school starts again?

No, she said she's jealous of my grading ability. WHY I asked her? She said cause I failed students and gave some a barely passing score.

And why don't you I asked her.

She said our school policy is that Chinese teachers can only give out A or B grades. Nothing lower...

A new low or status quo...? The grades are bought and paid for - once again...

[rioux]

Standard Operating Procedure

[jimpellow]

Nice post. But you gave the failing grade, but will it end up as an A or B. Been there....

[kungfuman]

[thechangling]

[adventious]

[The_Kong]

If anyone thinks this is only a problem in Chinese schools then you're living in a world that is so disconnected from reality that you should probably not be teaching children since you don't know what you're talking about and should probably go home and receive an education in the field you're currently working in.

https://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2007/06/09/failure_is_not_an_option.html

She has skipped 30 classes in a row and hasn't handed in an assignment all term, but the principal wants her teacher to cut this Grade 12 student some slack.

"He told me, 'Look, the student says she's finally willing to hand in all her work, so I want you to mark it and don't take off points for being late,'" sighs the English teacher at a west Toronto high school.

"Whatever happened to deadlines? We bend over so far for kids these days, it's a joke."

With the school year almost done, the pressure for marks is on – and not just for students, but also teachers.

A growing chorus of educators say Queen's Park's new drive to keep kids in school to 18 is pushing them to coddle students with inflated marks, too many second, third and fourth chances and too few flunking grades, adding to an already lofty sense of entitlement.

In a new survey of nearly 1,000 high school teachers in Durham Region, four out of 10 say they feel principals push them to drop standards so more students will pass. One in four feels pressured not to give an F.

Yet some say it's time to bring back the F-word – Fail – to a school system that has shunned it for a generation.

"Everyone wants what's best for the student, but teachers are asking, `Have we gone too far?'" says math teacher Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation.

[7969]

[kungfuman]

Abuse of power? I give students the mark they deserve. A hardworking student - even one who fails exams- will pass my class- unlike those pantie waste spoiled rich kids who do nothing.

If someone fails my class it's because they deserve it.

Unlike the Chinese teachers who hand out an A or B mark just because they have no independent thought capabilities and just follow the hive mind directions.

[thechangling]

[The_Kong]

[rogerwilco]

I am aware of schools changing the scores that I give.
The scores have been changed both up and down. One student that I gave a final score of 88 later told me that he had received a score of 68.
Some students that receive a score of 0 because they never attend class have later received a score of 80 or 90.

I do not like giving a score of less then 60 because that just creates an opportunity for someone else to ask for a bribe from a student that I failed.

FT's that brag about failing students may not be aware that they are probably just enriching the Chinese admin.

Bribes seem to be more common in the high schools because of the Gao Kao.
But, I am aware of Chinese teachers in my college being offered bribes for higher scores.