Korean Job Discussion Forums

[katydid]

This happened to me last semester. I had a really good student miss his final cause apparently he had to go and get a physical for the army. I told his friends, cause he didn't come see me, to have him email me a time before the semester was over to retake the test. I never heard from him, and I had to fail the guy, as the test was 40 percent of his grade. In all honesty, I hope he negotiated with someone and passed, cause I really felt bad doing that, but also didn't want to Create-A-Grade (tm) for him, either.
Well, it has happened again, although, this time the guy has managed to tell me a week before that he will be unable to take the final. Again, I told him to set up a time that would be good for him, but I'm just somewhat curious as to how other people handle it when a student tells them they have a conscription meeting. Obviously, they can't reschedule the meeting and I would never think that would be a possibility. And I am telling them to contact me to reschedule the thing...I just hope they take it seriously and do it.
Is there something they know that I don't, a law that says "If you have conscription during the final, you can an automatic A?" I guess mainly what I am doing is just venting cause I dread the possibility that they won't show up for the final, and then since I have to pass practically all students and their little blonde yappy spaniels here, I may actually have to break out the Create-A-Grade (tm) machine.

[Austin]

Attitudes about "tests" in general will vary (I fail to see the point in them the way they are usually done), but when I was teaching at Seonam University, I just gave my absent students the grade they had going into the final and excused them from having to take it.

It sounds like you might be pretty ridged in your beliefs (based on what you did to your student last year), but I hope you reconsider.

Sometimes we tend to get blinded by our feelings of self-importance and are unable to see what our purpose truly is.

When you can answer that question, I am sure you will come up with a solution that will allow you to sleep at night.

For what it is worth, it is refreshing that you acknowledged your mistaken approach to the student you failed and are seeking to fashion a better method.

[dutchman]

[katydid]

No, I said I gave him the grade he got, but actually hoped he was able to get the administration to tinker with it. I felt bad, but didn't really know what else to do. So this is why I am asking the question now, for future reference. I recognize we are not talking about "Oh, I slept in," or "I needed to see my girlfriend." This is something that the government makes all Korean males do, so I was wondering, without any sort of judgment (ahem ahem ahem) what anyone else did in the past...take it as a special case, and give the person an Auto-Pass (tm), make them take the final and pass/fail him accordingly, or say "Sorry, you knew my email address/cell phone number/office phone number/where I live, and didn't contact me. Off you go!"?
I take my job seriously but not the way Fraser Crane does.

[Austin]

That is disappointing.

What do you think your "job" is?

Do you have a problem exempting your students from the final?

Why are you opposed to passing all of your students? Do you think your position would be any more or less valid, if your administrators informed you that you were going to be prohibited from issuing grades? Why do you feel that "grades" are such a critical aspect to "learning?"

Though you may not respond to my questions, I hope you at least consider the implications of your answers.

[katydid]

I have no problem exempting students from a final, if they have a valid excuse they can prove, such as they were sick or they had to participate in a physical for the army. No problem. I consider myself a fair (and new) teacher. Like I said, I realized I may have made a mistake last time and don't want to do it again.
I have let any of my students miss class for any reason provided they give me a note why, or tell me why they were absent. In fact, I have excused students who told me with a note "I had to participate in a soccer game." They bother to tell me, I respect that.
What would you do though, if your student said "Oh, teacher I didn't feel like taking the final?" I couldn't respect or honor a poor excuse like that. And if that is coupled with "Oh, I didn't feel like attending my classes, or doing my homework, or buying a book," then I feel justified that they fail. Those who showed up and tried, of course they'll pass.
One coworker of mine worked at a school where they had to fill in their grade sheets in pencil. Then the administration tinkered with it to produce a final grade. I'd be happier with that set-up quite honestly. There may be some cultural difference I can't swallow, and I would rather be removed from the process where I feel forced to pass a guy who could have obviously and blatantly couldn't have cared less in my class, and let someone who may better understand the whole grading system here do it instead.
I know grades aren't a valid part of learning, an A doesn't necessarily mean you are smart and I certainly don't think anyone who doesn't do well in English must be stupid. That's a totally ignorant thought. But my school doesn't allow me to write written evaluations with a Pass/Fail attached to it, so looks like I am stuck with only A,B,C,D and sometimes F.

[Austin]

I appreciate you taking the time to further explain yourself. Your response is comforting, in that you are obviously aware of the "true" importance of your position.

Your students are lucky to have you as a teacher.

[hellofaniceguy]

How would you handle this issue if you were in your home country? I always point out to students that I don't give grades; you earn them. I don't give A's, B's or F's, they earn them. Part of life is learning responsibility and taking responsibility for your actions, etc. Students know well in advance when they have military duties. Been here long enough to know that much! I have students giving me written notice of their military obligation 3-4 months in advance and schedule exams, etc. accordlingly. But you know, it does not matter, the school always changes the grades and whatnot. Your student will find a way around it.

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

Give them the grade they earned up to the point they were ordered to report for induction. The next 2.5 years, give or take a few months, are going to be hell enough that they shouldn't have to think about having failed an English course through no fault of their own.

I've done it more than once. I'll do it again if the opportunity arises. It's the least I can do for what they are about to endure.

[Austin]

Hellofaniceguy,

Since when does the acquisition of knowledge have to be a zero-sum game? Just because I know something first, does not mean that others should not be allowed to access that same information. Moreover, it does not mean that they are any more or less significant.

I encourage my students to help their fellow classmates, as that is the type of classroom, community, society, etc. that leads more people to fulfillment. I firmly assert that tests and exams only serve as a tool to justify separating people.

Take a look how the results from the TOEFL, etc. are used. Higher education has turned into a filter against the bourgeoisie.

Can we be serious?

How do you think George W. Bush got admitted to Yale and graduated? I am positive the endowments from the Walker and Bush clan over the previous century had nothing to do with someone with less than a 2.0 gpa in high school being accepted to Yale (getting his degree is another story)! Yale is their family's legacy, so what of your ideas of students/people earning their marks?

Do capitalist ideas belong in any legitimate educational setting?

Knowledge is not something that can be disseminated without the learner being ready to receive that information, so why punish and reward people accordingly?

Socrates and Plato may very well have had it right!

Your problem with evaluating your students might be that it presents a conflict within your ego, as it appears that you genuinely believe that what you are doing (issuing grades) has value, the "I am gonna teach you something!" mentality. Unearned grades could be viewed as a direct affront to everything you "work" to accomplish. Unfortunately, your premise might be a fallacy.

I submit that the purpose of language is to be understood, to communicate, so unless one is going to communicate only with one's self, we need to be able to interact with people. What type of classroom, community, and society do you want to create? We can be an agent for positive change, or we can become part of the establishment that we inherited.

If you could answer in your own words why we test and assess students in the first place, things might be a bit clearer.

Why not give everyone an A?

That way we can focus on assisting our students acquire the English language.

[J.B. Clamence]

I've always been told that you can't fail people who are going into the army unless they were failing before they left. Maybe each university has its own policy. At our university, when a student goes to the army, his grade is frozen as it is when he goes, and he cannot be penalized for work he missed after he left. It makes sense.

[simulated stereo]

well, guys know well in advance if they have to go for the physical. If a student knows they are going to miss class then it is their responsibility to inform the teacher. I'm giving early finals to five students who will be taking their physicals on the day of the final exam. But they told me about this problem two weeks ago so we were able to schedule reviews and a final exam date well in advance. But the bottom line is that students are responsible for themselves. And if they don't, then they only have themselves to blame. This is University, not kindergarten.
My school has a policy of five absences=automatic F and there isn't anything I can do about it. Nor is there anything I would want to do about it. If you miss class without reason then you get an F. If you have good reason but are too lazy to talk to me about it then you still get an F, or at the most D-. However, if you show up sober and willing to at least try to speak, then you'll get an A. I have a surprising number of Fs to give out this semester and they're all due to absences. Some of those students are good English speakers too.

[katydid]

Ahhh...do they now? Well I wasn't sure. You know, it seemed like a very real possibility to me that they could just sign up one day for the army, and then one day are told: "OK, be here tomorrow!"
Well, so far I have three or so special cases with my finals, debating internally how to handle it:

1) Conscription guy, that's if he doesn't contact me to make up the test.
2) Girl who studied in Canada, got a friend to pass in her one homework assignment to me, got an 86 on her midterm, never once has shown up to class otherwise, and I make attendance 30 percent of my grade.
3) A student (actually a few students) who slacked off and missed her midterm. Am considering making their final count for not just 40 percent, but 70 percent of their grade (as in midterm and final).

I absolutely know what I would do in America...say "Sorry" if they didn't hold up their end of the bargain to me, you know, you show up to class, you try to study English, I try to be as accessible to you and interesting with my lessons as possible. Here, it's just seems ridiculous excuses are honored fully here, or at least they expect the foreign teachers to not know how things are done here.

[simulated stereo]

I say stick to your guns. If you laid out your attendance and grading policy at the beginning of the semester, then it's up to the students to follow it or accept the consequences.

[weatherman]

Yeah, this happened to me today with one guy. I told him to come to my office tomorrow early evening. He said OK, I will give him the exam. No problem, all par for course at a Korean degree mill.