Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

My uni decided to group all of the engineering students together in one class, because as a whole, they are bombing 1st-year English class miserably. This doesn't look good as they try to become accredited in the USA. By doing this, they now can assure that at least a larger portion of them will get a better grade (our system requires a certain number of A's, B's, etc. for this class).

This is the most horrible class to teach. They absolutely will not talk.

[TheChickenLover]

Why would they talk? They know that 80% of them will get either an A or B based on the uni curve.

Uni students know damn well you don't have to do anything to graduate. That's why companies test the hell out of them when they apply for jobs. If they could actually trust the education system here, then they would have far fewer headaches...but the uni system here is a crock.

Chicken

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Why don't you try to show them how important a TOEIC score might be to getting a job and just teach TOIEC. Yes, it's boring and in some respects purposeless, but at least they might see the point in it and take it a bit more seriously than a 'Describing People's Feelings' lesson.

[bassexpander]

For this class, we're stuck with what we have to teach.

[jellobean]

Grouping majors is standard where I'm at, but we aren't required to use a curve so I was permitted to fail half the engineering class last semester. Actually, the computer gets mad if we fail more than 20%, but those who fail for skippping don't count in the 20%. That's why I tell my students their grades after the midterm. Engineers might not get English, but their math is good enough to understand the idea of mathematically impossible to pass. Then they stop coming and fail on absences.

Sorry, I can't help with ideas about the curve. Although when I taught with one, I calculated straight grades and then gave the extra As and Bs to the hard workers, not on a mathmatical split.

[IncognitoHFX]

[basplar]

I've seen at least a dozen students at my uni that I failed last semester that are now in English 2. Looks like I got overridden as far as my authority to fail students based on their academic performance and attendance. The uni system here is ALL POLITICS. It's a joke. That's why NOT ONE KOREAN UNIVERSITY made it in the world top 100 universities list last year.

[cheeseface]

[cheeseface]

[Ilsanman]

As long as the curve allows you to fail some students, then fail some. Make it random.

You can let your students know this, but promise them that if they work hard and speak up in class, they guarantee that failure will not be random. You can fail the dumb chick with the cell phone or the guy with the bad attitude then.

[bassexpander]

[Tobias]

[Gollywog]

This is an interesting thread. So, grading on the curve is official policy in some unis. Is it also official policy in some secondary schools?

I was discussing this issue with a co-teacher, and he had never heard of the concept of grading on a curve. I had suggested this expectation of leniency as a possible explanation for the students' lack of participation. As we know, sometimes a class back home will not work hard in a sort of conspiracy of laziness, knowing they would be graded on a curve. I had assumed Korean students knew this trick, but the teacher claimed ignorance of this, suggesting the concept might be too complex for Korean students.

Well, I don't know what's going on, but I see no sign of Korean students being failed in English in secondary school. They seem to keep moving on up.

What I'd like to know is why is English required, past the first year, if they are going to let the kids slide? It is just a waste of money. If Korea failed students who didn't work, and didn't allow students to take second year English who failed, it would save a lot of money they could use on, say, hiring better teachers, or paying teachers more.

Isn't it a waste of money to have classes for students who are sleeping?

But then, perhaps we should not cast stones. If these Koreans students are getting degrees from American colleges, something is very wrong. It sounds like the American colleges are taking the Koreans' money and letting them slide because they make a profit off of students paying full tuition. I can't imagine how the students coming out of my school, except for the top 5 percent at most, could write a college term paper in English when they go to college.

[bassexpander]

[oskinny1]