Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiknkorea]

[thecount]

When I first came to Korea, I was specifically told by my school that my class was supplementary and that I was not to administer grades.

That lasted all of about two weeks.

Success in all endeavors is about the carrot and the stick. Being honest, very few students will take a carrot mentality with regard to learning - it is human nature to fight against anything being forced upon you (by their parents, by society, the government, etc.). Those who do embrace learning will succeed regardless of grading policy, but those who fight against it or remain apathetic must face the stick (and/or it's looming, threatening shadow) now, or be left behind to a far crueler fate.

[Welsh Canadian]

Most school boards will say you cannot leave a student behind.

It affect their mentality and gives them a stigma. But if you do it to enough students there wont be as big a stigma or they wont feel so left out.

If there is any place to keep a student behind it is Kindergarten. Instead of them being there for 2 years, if they haven't progressed enough they should be kept behind just one more year.

[Mr. Pink]

I agree with the teacher suing. However, in some cases the actual law says that the students cannot fail. During my B.Ed program back in Canada I was shocked to learn that they changed the law and children CANNOT fail elementary school. If they are "failing" then they are labeled "at risk" and more money is poured into helping them catch up the following year. What a complete joke.

Is it any wonder that today's youth has such a sense of entitlement?

When I taught at a FLHS within Korea I gave grades, but we were told 90% of the grades had to be in the 90-100 range, and no one was to be given a grade below 80. I could deal with that system, as the reality is most students get 90-100 throughout the country, so they actually use the decimal system up to two points in calculating grades and class rank.

At my current school I can see that students have been passed through the grades despite being WAY below level. I have a student who is in grade 7 with grade 3 writing and reading skills. Why does this happen? At my school we are an international school that relies on money from parents. If we don't pass them through, another school will. Pretty sad reality huh?

[Jeonmunka]

I like the New Zealand system of achievement based passes. Students will always have good points, even the most challnging ADD kid - so it attempts to devise a curriculum whereby that kid can excel or pass at least a few things.

[Pluto]

There really should be nothing wrong with holding young students back in grade school. Just so long as the teacher is honest with the student and the student's parents. Grade and middle school should be about preparing students for high school. High school is where some of the most crucial decisions will be made in a student's life. Whether a student continues on to university, enters one of the trades or pursues some other career choice may be determined in high school. Therefore, it's crucial that students enter high school well prepared, if a young student has to be held back at a younger age, so be it.

[djsmnc]

Nothing like a good "You failed, son" to build some character in our youth!

[Moldy Rutabaga]

The uni I work at presently is pretty good in backing me up if I fail students. When I taught Korean English teachers in the government's national retraining program, we had to do all of this paperwork to grade students, and then our grades were all converted to numbers. The lowest grade, I think D, resulted in a grade of 80! Thus the program looked good on paper, as the administration could show all of the English teachers getting high grades, even though no one could actually fail.

I'm all for failing. I nearly failed Math in high school. You better believe I worked harder knowing I would have to repeat it. I failed a Poli Sci course in college. This told me that, well, I shouldn't be a Poli Sci major and should do something else. Failure is a good thing if it motivates people and gives them feedback on their strengths and weaknesses, and not failing students, ever, tells them that their actions don't have consequences.

[kabrams]

[Captain Corea]

Don't do the work, you fail. Makes sense to me.

[kiknkorea]

[kabrams]

[Fox]

Assigning a student an F grade is one thing; holding them back a year is something else entirely. Children who don't perform well should be given a failing grade, so that their parents recognize the child is struggling with a given subject and can take appropriate action. Holding a child back on the other hand seem to me to be something that could do substantially harm to a child emotionally without providing much reciprocal benefit. If a child fails in a single subject, their parents should be getting them tutoring in that subject to compensate. If a child fails in every subject, then they probably shouldn't be in a normal classroom anyway, because they either have incredibly severe emotional problems or are mentally impaired.

If a kid fails math, their parents need to get them extra math help. If a kid fails everything, they probably need an entirely different classroom environment. In neither case does it seem that holding them back would be the solution, unless your goal is to stigmatize them for the rest of their education.

[Mr. Pink]

[Jeonmunka]