Korean Job Discussion Forums

eIn07912 · Joined: 06 Dec 2008 Location: seoul

ok, time for another rant. best in here than out there.

its report card time again, and if anyone else has ever written report card comments here, perhaps u've gotten instructions such as these: "please, dont write anything bad about the student. try to write only positive things." clearly i was paraphrasing, but u get the general idea.

this has to be one of the most frustrating and ignorant things ive come across in my time here. most students r good. but we all know there r always a handful that r absolute devils. how r we supposed to write positive things about these kids? more importantly, WHY should we write positive things about these kids? its not doing them any good.

"billy is such a wonderful student. never mind the fact that he yells and screams at me and other students in class. or that he never has his book or has only turned in 2 home work assignments the entire semester. besides the fact that the only english ive ever heard him udder is 'Puck You' to other students, there is no need to discipline little billy. its not like he deserves it or anything. besides if i were to give him a red card (punishment card) its not like that doesnt go on his record anymore, the home room teacher just throws it in the trash right in front of him, so long as he promises to be a good little boy in the future"

its no wonder why some of these kids some how, magically get into an american university and many end up quitting, failing, or flinging themselves off the nearest building. they get coddled and babied till theyre in there 20's and the first time they receive actual constructive critiscism or god forbid, a failing grade that they actually deserve, they have no way of dealing with failure, so naturally what u should do is just give up. give up on trying to do better. just give up on life in general. kids need to learn that failure is apart of life. everybody fails at something at some point. its normal. it happens to everybody. especially if u dont put in the effort. and it also makes us better because we r supposed to learn from our failures and not repeat them.

and even if we ignore the kids that rightfully deserve to hear the truth, that theyre failing, not because theyre dumb, but because theyre not trying and i refuse to just hand out achievement. but what about the ones that honestly deserve the praise i want to heap upon them? little sally studied her butt off to get that "Sally is a wonderful student comment" on her report card. what does that say to her when she sees she trying hard and gets the same response from her teacher as little billy, that spent half the class picking his nose and cursing in korean? what motivation is there for her to keep working hard? i know i couldnt find any. what difference does it make? if im going to get praised no matter what i do, why put in those extra hours?

and have we even asked the parents if this is what they want? can we ask mom which she'd prefer; that i blow smoke up her rump or tell her this is what ur kid is doing wrong and this what he can do if he wants to get better?

i know this is my last year and i shouldnt be trying to fight the good fight on things like this, because a foreigner will never be able to change the status quo, no matter how in the right on a issue here or there we r. but honestly, do koreans truly think they're going to lead the world one day by just having that leadership handed to them? i mean, kids really r the future, and all i see is an entire generation that sees when things get too hard for them, someone comes along to lower the bar.

blaseblasphemener · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:37 am Post subject:

Am I the only one who finds it annoying when people use text message style writing on this forum?

Is it really that tiring to write out you or are or to/too? Are you really that busy?

phoneboothface · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Korea

Julius · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

kimuchiii · Joined: 02 Dec 2007

Perhaps you could add a little honey with your crits? For example if "Tom" is bright but way too active in class maybe that would fly ok with your boss if you wrote it that way. "Tom is a very bright boy and if he were only a little less active in class I am sure he would learn so much more. For example when he is sitting and paying attention he seems to understand the English lesson so much better than when he is xx or xx." Etc maybe not the best example but every parent likes to hear good things about their kids and hopefully you can find something positive about the student(s) and gently mention suggestions for improvements....? Just an idea but good luck-that situation has got to suck not being able to write the evaluations how you see fit to do so Confused

mld · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Location: Seoul

Are they asking you to just say each student was excellent, or do they want you to refrain from negativity.

I figure: "Kevin is a horrible student. He never listens to me and he speaks poorly." is probably not the most tactful way of saying things.

A step better might be: "Kevin needs to start listening in class. He also needs to improve his English a lot."

Even better would be: "Kevin has had some difficulties with paying attention in class. Because of this, he has not been as successful as he could be in my class. I would like to see him try to focus a bit more so that he can improve his listening and speaking abilities. He has a lot of potential and I would like to see him start working harder." Or something to that effect.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if that's not what they meant.... though for the life of me, I can't understand the point of testing when a failed test doesn't have even the slightest academic consequence (I had a boy fail all five story tests from one book, but the head teachers, but he was sent on to the next book anyway... and they weren't close fails...). Sometimes I wonder if the parents even read them (some do, but I doubt all of them do).

Good luck with walking the fine line...

Papa Smurf · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Location: Seoul

do you work in a hagwon? i do. we're told to always write more positive than negative, and basically bend the truth. i understand this to be becuase korean parents are pretty sensitive, and would pull their kids out of the school, if they felt insulted. or they would blame the teacher, curriculum etc (which of course could be the problem) and pull them out. so it makes sense, from a business point of view, to write total bs positive stuff even tho the kid is a brat or doing badly. if u work in a public school it wouldnt make any sense at all to write write repeort cards this way. i mean, if they pull them out of the school, one less brat to worry about. no skin of anyone at the schools nose.

Julius · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

Benicio · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:05 am Post subject:

Why try to change a system that does not want to be changed?

It's all about saving face. If the truth hurts, they would much rather hear the lie!

If it's a hagwon, then forget about it. The entire purpose of the place is a daycare that needs to generate as much money as possible.
Actual learning/education is not even near the focus.

Your purpose for being there is to keep the mothers happy!
Why fight such a losing battle?

Focus on the good kids who are nice and want to enjoy class.
With the bad ones, just try to minimize the damage they do and forget about the rest of it.
If a student doesn't respect you, then they are not worth your effort or consideration.

Don't even sweat this report card nonsense. It's not like it will accomplish anything anyway.
The good kids will know they have done well and those parents know they have good kids.
The bad kids don't care and their parents prefer to live in oblivion.
If you try to write the truth about these kids, it's not like the parents will get it. Either they can't read it or it will chucked in the trash and they will never see it anyway.
If they can read it, then they will most likely come to school and complain about how you are writing lies about their innocent little angel, that you are a bad teacher and should be fired.

This would not solve anything and only cause you problems.

Good luck!

eIn07912 · Joined: 06 Dec 2008 Location: seoul

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

My friend has a daughter in the Korean PS system. Her elementary school told them everything was going fine. She failed every subject on her first middle school mid-term. He sure wishes her elementary school had said something. The systemic, wilful neglegnnce on the part of elemetnary education in this country is unbelieveable.

Ruraljuror · Joined: 08 Dec 2007

I like Benicio's answer a lot. The system is flawed, and everyone knows it. The teachers know it is wrong. Korean parents HATE the Korean education system. And the kids are the most miserable people on the planet. Since 100% of the people involved agree on this...

Someday, eventually, things may change. But it won't be a foreigner who leads the revolution. Do *exactly* what your boss tells you to do, educate the best you can do with the restrictions that he places on you, and keep collecting checks until the sheer pointlessness of it all causes you to flee Korea altogether. This is a fight you can not win, and realizing that will postpone your "Korea Burn-Out Day" by a few years.

mld · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Location: Seoul

bobbybigfoot · Joined: 05 May 2007 Location: Seoul

Hard to blame the hagwons. The parents are quite often unreasonable. Case in point: one parent just pulled her kid out of our school because he failed the midterm. The mother was also angry because her son was always getting in trouble by the Korean teacher. She refused to acknowledge that her son was the problem. And believe me, this kid was the problem. So the mom will just move on to another school. The school that tells her what she wants to hear is the school that gets her cash.

ddeubel · Joined: 20 Jul 2005

A teacher teaches to help those that can't help themselves.

So what are you complaining about?

Teachers the world over complain about the "devils". They complain because they don't realize it is their vocation to reach and turn and empower these kids. To me, I get motivated and energized by this. It is a calling and that's all teaching is. If you want a free ride and pay check - go elsewhere.....

It's not about "raising the bar" but about caring enough to to forget about that bar and teach students not a bloody subject that will just be defunct and reinterpreted a million times over come next semester. So please stop blaming the children and THINK of the children.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com