Job Discussion Forums

[Gorak]

In China, I have seen many FTs give 100% marks and/or fail students in university.

In Chinese culture, I do not think this is appropriate - nobody has directly told me so. As our employers, I would think that we should follow their expectations/directives. In awarding marks, do you give 100% and/or fail students?

[tw]

[Gorak]

[Roger]

[Gorak]

[kev7161]

Only somewhat connected: My kids had their end of year English exam which I created - 100 points for a variety of listening, speaking, reading and writing exercises. My lowest student earned a C+, which surprised me as she was the ONLY "C" grade. Everyone else made Bs and As, with mostly As being awarded. Even the student who floundered at F and D level all year earned a B+!!

Oh yeah, I didn't administer the test, 5 other (Chinese) English teachers did. Already on the path to honest grading assessments I see!

[Yu]

After my first semester in China, I failed about 20% of my students. The average score was around a 68. I was found to be a strict teacher, and the next semester several students dropped out of my classes the first week. I was left with an excellent group of students who were willing to work. I do not think I failed more than 3 students the next semester.
After I changed jobs, some of my new students heard that I failed a lot of students the year before. They were really good (and a little scared of me).
I have come to realize the failing students in general creates more work for me and generally is not worth it because they will eventually be passed. Students who do fail have to take a make up exam which they will most likely pass. I have come to just view a 60 as failing a student. They know it means they failed and they dont have to retake the test. That being said, I failed 3 students last semester. 2 because I caught them plagiarizing their research paper. And one because he did poorly in my class and on the test. The next semester the poor performer came to every class and earned a grade in the high 70s.
I dont usually give 100. About a 97 is the highest. To be fair, I dont think any of the students really are so impressive they deserve 100. There is always something they can do to improve.
"The nail that is standing up gets hammered down" IN china, I feel there is a preference for being in the middle. Not too high, not too low. But in the middle. People are not generally individually rewarded for going above and beyond the teachers expectations. If they do that, in general, it is the entire class that surprises me and not just one individual student.
In the US, we have ideas about going above and beyond the teacher's expectations. We believe in things like going the extra mile. In China, these ideas are not something that is valued here. I dont think in general you get highly rewarded to put in a lot of extra work.
When giving students a curve, I do my best to add enough points to the bottom scores so everyone can pass. Then I also dont add so much that anyone will get above 97. I add the same number of points to each student's score.

[Roger]

[vikdk]

[mondrian]

[tarzaninchina]

I have no problem failing students if they don't make the cut. Mind you, I make it difficult for that to happen (i.e. they have to go out of their way).

100% means incredibly high. I've given very few of those in China, but more than none.

Am running out of time here in the internet bar, so I won't go into details of what the administrators do here in the college I'm working at.

[Paul Barufaldi]

[Lobster]

I've only failed one student, a guy who had an attendance rate of about 30%. My marks are based on participation, oral presentations, and a series of weekly tests in listening and writing. The sheer volume of tests helps me to identify struggling students and their weak areas and helps me to assist these students and raise their marks. By the end of the term, through incessant hammering home of the critical points, most students manage to achieve better than 80%.

I do this because I have no opportunity to conduct initial assessments. If I worked with a mid-term/final exam structure, by the time I figured out who was in trouble it would be too late to help them. As well, I throw out the four of twelve tests that have the lowest marks and average the remaining scores. This helps relieve a bit of the stress and takes into account those days when students may not feel up to snuff. In addition, my class is full of quizzes that don't count toward the final mark, and are just another learning/assessment/review tool. It's a lot of work for me, but I think it's worth it.

Any comments on this approach?

RED

[movinaround]

[randyj]