Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aka Dave]

This week is finals week at my University. I'm a newbie teaching at a Korean University, though I have several years teaching at UC Santa Barbara in grad school and a year stint at the University of Bordeaux in France. So I'm already aware that different cultures have different approaches toward grading (France being stricter, than the U.S. generally. A 20/20 simply doesn't happen there).

I teach in the English Education department, where the students are studying to middle shool/high school teachers (English). In Korea, becoming a teacher is actually pretty hard, as there's a very difficult exam they have to pass (less than 10 percent pass it, according to my students), and it's very competitive because teaching is a well respected job and viewed as "safe".

So, bottom line, my students are obsessed over their grades. When I gave Bs or even Cs at UCSB, students would take it no problem. Here, when I gave Bs on mid-terms students literally freaked out.

Also, A pluses seem relatively common. In the UC system, at least, A pluses are very, very rare. First of all, they're meaningless; A plus is the same as A, 4.0 in your GPA. Second, they're just ornamental, so they're hardly ever given.

Now, my boss, a linguistics professor, told me she gives A pluses to 10 to 15 percent of the students. A *student* (a senior) told me that 70 percent of the students receive A pluses! In the U.S. we worry about grade inflation, here it seems not as big of an issue as tests weed out poor performers.

Complicating this is that the previous foreign professor gave out some bad grades, and the students really resented him (I think) or at least felt the process was unfair. So many re-took the classes (in Korea, you can re-take a class you did poorly in and replace the grade. In the States, or at least the UC system, the second grade is averaged with your first grade).

Anyway, as I start grading the finals, just wondering how folks with experience grade over here. Lots of As and A pluses, or American style, with a wide range of grades.

[ytuque]

At my uni, the grade distribution is reasonable, but after grades are submitted, things happen.

[waywardwanderer]

Many universities have a curve system. You may want to check with your colleagues as to whether your school/department has a policy to curve final grades. Where I teach, the administration changed the curve half way through the semester. Now for classes over 10 students 35% can get A+/A; 35% B+/B and the remaining 30% get C+ or below. It is important that the students know and understand the curve; otherwise, there will be many complaints.

However, if there is no curve, then Korean students will expect high grades. My advice is to give them high grades�very high grades. That would be the path of least resistance. The admin will be happy, the students will be happy and then you can go on holiday for 2 and a half months feeling good that you made so many people happy. No harm there.

I have known teachers and professors that have been very strict about grading. Usually their stories involve complaints and negotiations that just add stress to the whole process. That is why I say choose the path of least resistance.

[Hanson]

[aka Dave]

Ahh, the path or least resistance. It has never let me down

Anyway, I think, genuinely, that with my students the effort has been there (I make an exception for the freshmen, who, according to their own reports, have been partying all semester). And the freshmen have to take part in a liguistics study where my boss mp3s all my final conversations in an attempt to study meaning negotiation.

So I'll be pretty loose on grading and see how that goes. I'd rather start loose rather than harsh and see how it plays.

I should add an ironic thing my boss said. She said "you should be harsh on them, if you grade tough they won't take your class the next semester, and you'll have less students to teach, so it will be easier".

My boss is the best.

[HapKi]

In my experience, if you fail a student, expect the following to happen (and I wrote this in the Job Discussion Forum)

1-you never saw them in class, you give an F and that's it.

2- you never saw them in class, you give and F, and then get a call from your Head.

3-you saw them at mid term and final, they assumed this was enough, and you give and F. You get a call from your Head.

4- poor attendance.

In cases 2, 3, and 4, chances are they by-passed you and went straight to your English Dept. head. Or their Dept. Head, who then called your Dept. Head. Doing this unsurps your power, and I find it cuts the legs out from under you. React as you may.

Another thing that might happen is that they come to your office, you explain the breakdown of their score, show them their F, and then have them beg, plead, beg in Korean, and basicially put their score in your hands, then and there. As in, they will not leave. The fact that they cannot put together two words together in English in their defence does not help them any. As I said, do as you may.