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Expectations to Pass in Higher Education Language Courses
I often felt that while in the West you are seen as paying for an education, in China, families are paying for an educational babysitter that will give them the degree they pay for, regardless of student performance. If one of my students missed several classes, it was understood that a teacher would call their parents. Students are generally expected to pass as long as they physically show up to class. Teachers are expected to tweak the numbers if a student is in danger of failing, if alternate assignments and babying methods have not already done the job. Students know that they will pass irregardless of academic performance and that it is only a matter of good their score is. Some students have been known to flaunt this to their teachers. I know as a teacher that if I give a student a failing grade because they did not master the material, someone, somewhere, will change the grade before it goes into the system. If too many students fail or receive poor marks, I will certainly be the one in the can. It is widely understood among teachers that your responsibility is to attempt to educate the students willing to learn while babying along other students there because they require a sitter. Tests are a matter of often review questions, the answers to which have been drilled thousands of times. I often put the answers to a few questions on the top of the test itself, but most students pay so little attention, even during a final exam, that they never notice and still miss the question. Extra credit or extra assignments are often given in class to make up for when students perform poorly in some way. In my class I give extra credit to students who successfully perform daily tasks, as opposed to grading daily tasks. If I graded normal homework assignments and normal tasks on an achievement scale, marking off for mistakes, most of my students would fail, lose face, and thus destroy the school's face and their willingness to keep me on as an employee. As long as the majority of students get passing marks and eventually get a degree, it doesn't matter if they copy everything they ever turn in and master very little of the subject matter. But even more important than passing marks is attendance. At teacher’s meetings held twice a month, half of the meeting was usually devoted to the cases of individual students who were perpetually late or absent from class. Their marks and progress in class, and understanding of the material, was rarely brought up. Though these students are 18-21 years old, they were still deemed in need of supervision throughout the day. When a student missed too many classes, parents were called out of concern for what the student might be doing in that unsupervised time. Students are not the only group chastised. If I finished a lesson five minutes early, I often let the students off. The administration quickly made it clear to me, via a translator, that during scheduled class hours I was in charge of the students, and letting my charges flit about the world freely during those scheduled hours was a direct violation of school policy. This elevation of the qualities of discipline and punctuality over other academic skills is perhaps why students who have studied English for 10+ years can only say "Hello, how are you? Fine thank you very much." and "My name is Delicious, where are you going?" 2007 © alarana.net |