Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JZer]

[Lemonade]

[Qinella]

Lemonade, you've misunderstood at least three people in this thread. It's a little disconcerting.

Percy Nickets - made it pretty obvious that you said mercenary when you should've said mercy. You didn't pick up on that.

JZer - pointed out that one with as much research experience as you claim to have should know better than to make conclusive, all-encompassing statements. Your demand for links and syllabi do not detract from that point.

Merrilee - was talking about the general attitude and commitment level of a student, not whether or not a student happens to forget a pen one time.


You keep talking about all this research you did in college. Well, we're all presumably college grads, thus we can probably all do research. What really gets me is how everyone's point flies swiftly over your head. Are you reading too quickly or something?

Q.

[Corporal]

[Woland]

[dogbert]

[Woland]

[JZer]

Lemonade, if I wanted to spend the time, I could probably find 100 schools that have attendance policies.

http://www.udel.edu/fllt/faculty/lisat/general105.html#attendance

This is the attendance policy for German 105 at the University of Delaware. It is the policy of the foreign language department that if you miss more than 5 classes for a 4 credit course or more than 3 for a course that meets 3 times a week, you will lose one percentage point for every absence thereafter.

This is from the online syllabi:

Attendance is very important in a language course, for skills are developed through daily use. You are expected to attend every class. Unexcused absences will lower your final grade.
Successful completion of German 105 presupposes 70 hours of direct contact with the German language, in much the same way that a lab course or any skill-licensing course presupposes a predetermined number of contact hours.
Nevertheless the first five absences will not be held against you.* Do not bring in a written excuse for these first five absences. (The only exception to this is if the absence occurs on a day when a test, quiz, composition, or other evaluation is scheduled. On those days you must bring written documentation such as a letter from your physician or from the dean of your college. No such excuses will be accepted one calendar week (seven days) beyond the day on which the absence occurred.
After five absences for whatever reason (e.g. illness, religious holidays, etc.) your final grade will be lowered by 1% for each additional absence. This excludes absences after the fifth which are due to religious holidays, illness, accidents, or other exceptional circumstances. Such absences must be reported promptly and will require written documentation such as a letter from your physician. No such excuses will be accepted one calendar week (seven days) beyond the day on which the absence occurred.
There are no make-ups of any kind for work missed due to unexcused absences or late arrivals.
Please note: if a student misses the final exam, no make-up will be given unless the student can document that the exam was missed due to an emergency (e.g. severe illness, accident, death in the family).
*During the Winter session, one absence = 50 minutes of class time.

[rothkowitz]

let her pass.

[JZer]

Lemonade, I have t go to work now but I will surely post more when I get time. Here are three other schools with attendance policies:

Seattle Law School
Washington and Jefferson College
Grove City College

I will post proof when I have time.

[Tiger Beer]

[JZer]

[Hotpants]

The student has clearly made a lot of effort with attending. As you say, she was already a very low level. Perhaps, you need to treat her case separately. Give her a realistic test from material that is specific to what you've covered in class, preferably from the early stages of the course - you've surely been continually assessing, right? Then, later test her again. Has she made any improvement whatsoever? If there are signs of improvement, then you can up the grade. I'm quite realistic that for a mere one semester course, my low level students are not going to be leaving with fluent English whatever the age group. Any improvement is progress.

In your case, you say there is no apparent improvement. I would give a fail. But, you could also give her a separate grade for attendance just to boost her morale. Maybe this one won't be logged into the school database though!

[Kyrei]

If you don't want to hear details about my school and grading policies, skip down to the bottom.

My school has the following grade quota policy for classes with 30+ students:

A ~ A+: 20% - 25% of students in class
B ~ B+: 30% - 40% of students in class
(Therefore, C+ and lower: 35% - 50% of students in class).

Other school policies for all classes no matter how many enrolled:

--Letter grades are calculated in a "standard" fashion with increments of 10% for each letter and 5% for the plus, starting at D (60%).
--There is an attendance factor as well - miss 25% of the class (i.e. 4 or more) and automatic 'F'
--A grade of C+ stands in the G.P.A. but any grade C or lower can be re-taken for a potentially higher grade. Therefore, C+ is actually a 'punishment' grade in the sense that a student cannot get a higher one.

There are no rules for failing students at my school, nor is there pressure not to. If I fail a student though, I must feel it is justified and be able to support that judgement should the need arise. That being said, I hold this criteria for my students: if you are absent less than 3 times, do/hand-in all assigned homework, participate in class, and participate in the mid-term and final presentations (I don't do paper tests), then that student will qualify for at least a D. Do it with some enthusiasm and make an effort to improve, a C.

Given that As and Bs are regimented by percentages of students, I will fill those in based on a general ranking system (which I despise but students readily aceept). For example: in a class of 31 students (as I have this semester), the number of As range from 4 - 7 and Bs from 9 - 12. Therefore I will rank the top 19 students and award grades accordingly. In most cases the numbers fall into line, but in some cases I might have say 8 students who should get A but only 7 can, so one gets bumped down to B+. Those outside the top 19 will be given the choice of a C+ (assuming they have earned it) or a C and the option to try again later. I have come to terms with this system only after years of futile complaining and angst. As soon as I say to Student Kim that even though she did quite well in class yadeh yadeh yadeh, she ranked 8th overall and only 7 can get an A, she will sigh, look a little upset and leave it at that. Those not in the top ___ know how the system works and accept the grade.

While it is good to stand by a certain ethical code in terms of marking and grading, one can only do so within the confines of an otherwise stupid system. In my class of 55 first-year engineers [shudder] I will be hardpressed to make up enough to fit the requisite 8 - 14 As and 17 - 22 Bs based solely on performance in class. In this way, the students know that they can laze about and be given a decent grade as I have to make up that quota. For this particular class, when I do my ranking of the top 36, I will be sticking to the bottom end of the quota, not to be mean per se, but to be fair and honest about it. We'll see how it actually pans out.

To Tiger Beer, in your situation: I would probably award a C to the senior student and let it stand, unless you strongly felt that a D was more appropriate. If I were feeling particularly kind-hearted about it I might give a senior a C+ if they appealed the grade in a decently written letter or interview.

On grade pandering: I "love it" when students send me an e-mail begging for a grade of A or some such and it runs like this: "Kyrei Teacher. Everyday I come class. Hard Working but you D. Why??? I must good job, but cannot if no English mark. Please understand my situation."

[JZer]

http://www.washjeff.edu/users/wlyon/finsyl.html

Lemonade, check out this syllabus and you will see that this professor at Washington and Jefferson College takes attendance and threatens to lower students grades if they miss too many classes.

If I had my undergrad handbook in Korea, I would scan it for you to demonstrate the college wide attendance policy.