Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ytuque]

I spoke with a teacher at a public HS in Seoul recently. He has a Phd and is certified teacher from the US. I was shocked when he told me that he has little or no influence on grading and ranking the students. He gives his students a midterm and final which he grades and submits to the Korean English teachers. He has no idea what the Koreans do with his input.

Out of curiousity, I asked a couple of his students about his class. They like him, but they said the Korean teachers were more important since they assign grades and class rankings. They just listen to him but don't take notes during his lectures. If they are tired, they will sleep during his class but not the Korean teachers.

I have spoken previously with two Korean English teachers at this school, and their English is on par with a 11-12 year old kid from an English speaking country. So the fact that they ignore the Phd and listen to these teachers is a shame.

Is this just a poorly managed public school, or is this standard across Korea?

[livinginkunsan]

I would say standard.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I supply some of the exam questions for most of the classes I teach. Between that and being a bit of a hard-ass at times (I don't let students sleep) mine seem to pay attention reasonably well most of the time. However they need a lot of 'scaffolding' to follow along sometimes.

In most cases principals / VPs dictate that exams must count for 60-90% of final marks, so the system isn't really geared to provide our students with instrumental motivation. We have to figure out ways around this.

[Misera]

Standard..... my public elementary school doesn't even really give grades that will ever hold any student back. For English, their parents see a written comment like, "he is a very good English student" even if they aren't. I'm allowed to give any tests/quizzes/hw/whatever I want, but it really makes no difference in the end. My students are mostly good so they listen to us, but last year the 6th graders were pretty horrible and listened to no one and didn't care if they were yelled at because it just didn't matter. It didn't matter if they didn't learn anything..

So if there were grades that could hold them back or anything like that, they would most definitely care more about paying attention in class and learning.... My coteachers just hope that someday they'll fix that problem in the public school system.

[Joe666]

I inquired about the grading system recently. Korea does not make students repeat a grade or "stay back" a year, which is prevelant in the U.S. I can't speak for other western countries. If a student fails miserably, he/she continues to the next grade. There's no ABCDF grading system. The confucian ideology plays into this, I believe. If a student was to stay back a year, his/her social identity would self-destruct.

It's a little sad that a phd with excellent credentials would have no say in the grading of his/her students. I guess we are all pawns in this twisted Korean chess game.

[ytuque]

I was hoping that it was just one school with this brain dead policy, but from the responses, it appears to be the norm.

[agoodmouse]

I grade my students. I wrote about it here.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Joe666]

Yu_Bum_suk: On the other hand, how often have you heard PS teachers boast 'I don't have to do any test prep or marking!' - as if it's a fantastic condition of the job. That attitude's also part of the proplem.


Your right in all respects except it would be nice to feel like you contributed to something if you are expending the effort that we are in the classroom and just being here in K-Land.