Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ABC KID]

I remember the first time I had to write reports for students in Korea, back in my hagwon days many years ago. Well silly me, I gave my honest assessment of the students giving a range of A's, B's, C's and even an E to one highly disruptive student for his attitude. Of course I was immediately made to rewrite every report by the manager stating that I shall give straight A's to every student end of conversation. When I tried to challenge it I was told that it was what the parents want and expect to see. As a concession I was told it was okay to give the absolute worse two or three ability students one B and A's in all other categories!

I am not in a hagwon now, but it is time for me to write some reports. Apparently they will be edited if necessary afterwards - no negative comments or constructive criticism allowed basically. Even giving guidance to students as to how they might improve seems to be slightly rocky ground.

I know this happens in plenty of other countries too. I taught back home for a while and if William shouted in class and talked far too much then he was 'lively' and if Jack ran around the classroom that made him 'an energetic boy'...

I guess my question is this: Is Korea amongst the worst countries for producing fictional reports or is Korea just the same as any other country?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Korea surely must be about the worst. And what gets me is that ultimately the houses of cards will all come tumbling down when it's time to apply for university, but everyone would rather lose a lot of face later than a little bit sooner.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

It's not limited to Korea.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/22/17-gifted-children/

[The Gipkik]

It doesn't matter what grade you give them. Ultimately, the national tests are going to find them, weed out the incompetent, and chuck the mediocre into the bottom of the barrel schools and universities. If they want to delude themselves, let them. It's a short-lived delusion. No, it's not good for their mental health in the long run, but the psychology is different here. Tough love isn't the name of the game.

[Mr. Pink]

I always explain that those 90-100 grades that most students get have a world of their own. Yes, they are highly inflated but the system is the same all over Korea, so it seems to work. Think of 90-100 as our 60-100 system. Whereas we distribute the grades more fairly based on the level of academic success, in Korea, 1% can be the difference between going to SNU or not. In Canada we do not go .xx on our grades, the system automatically rounds up or down. In Korea, every high school has a 9x.xx grade and so they setup their little system to keep parents happy, as little miss kim or mr lee has a 수 or A grade. Those kids at technical or vocational schools are most likely more realistic and might go into the 80s.

I think this is why Korea also uses class standing or ranking as another way to determine one's ability. If you are in the top 1% of your class, it doesn't matter if everyone is in the 90s or 80s, the fact is you are the cream of the crop.

[Darkray16]

the entire system is completely different.

here, there are no consequences for doing nothing in class. even IF they are given an F, they doesn't affect their graduation. they will always be moved onto the next grade and eventually graduate no matter what they do here. students are almost never expelled, unless they commit a serious crime.

while they still must struggle at the end for college entrance exams, high school diplomas are worth as much as toilet paper here. in western cultures, diplomas at least mean something. although there are some who get by doing little, it's nothing compared to what goes on here.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[detourne_me]

Just to help out the OP, i want to recommend www.esltool.com
A friend of mine made it. He taught in Korea for quite a few years and it's an invaluable resource if you have to write hundreds of evaluations.
You can choose from Anything Goes/Mostly Positive/Only Positive in order to narrow down criteria.

Good luck