Thai Coordinatator: Why did all the students get this question wrong?
Foreign Teacher:(in a Russian Accent) " All year I've been teaching about BREAST! BREAST! BREAST!, on the exam it says "Nipples" What am I supposed to do?"
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The first 9 weeks is complete, and Exam week is upon us. A simple task you may think to yourself. But we are dealing with Thailand. Before you enter the teaching world here, you need to understand 1 thing: They do things their way,and you can argue all you want but it wont get you anywhere. Common sense is not a factor in their thinking. In the teaching world or the economic world, (but we'll save that topic for another blog)
So, now that you understand the situation let me explain the way "marking" goes. If you have read my previous (Click for previous-->Blog) you know that marking is really all that matters. It has to be perfectly beautiful, no unnecessary pencil marks, all check marks must look exactly the same, all on the same side... it is a very TEDIOUS process.
Before we proctored the exams we were told to give examples and if the students need some help you can help them. As teachers we are to read every question out loud for them. After the test were taken, it was time for marking. The coordinator said to me, if scores are too low, you can erase and change (but it's our secret). This is no secret, it was one of the first things I learned when we got our jobs here. It was something I knew ahead of time that I would need to accept and move on. So I graded and changed here and there, the kids that did horrible I changed a little (as instructed). But then I felt bad, it was unfair to the kids that did good, so occasionally I would change 1 or 2 of theirs as well.. to keep it on a fair scale. Well to my surprise my students actually did quite well! Here I am checking my tests and getting 30/30's! I'm thinking to myself, I must be doing something right! I handed in my test with pride and continue on with my work.
The following day my coordinator walks up to my desk with this awkward look on her face. "Teachuurr Leeza, students test scores...too high!" Okayyyy, I thought to myself.. this couldnt be the problem, I must of misunderstood her, but she continued, " Yes, Teachur too high... have to re-test a couple of the lower scoring students to even out the high scores."
I finally reached the point where going with the flow was going to be a challenging task. Knowing that I have to do things their way, I asked them to please pick the students because I did not want to have anything to do with that. I got to class and the Thai teacher made all the smart kids sit down and have free time while the 10 worst students had to re-take the exam w/o a proctor, or any examples. Basically setting them up for failure. I walked into the classroom and my heart sunk. These are good kids, who try, who are going to go home to their parents and get rep-remanded for getting bad grades when it really wasent their fault. I almost broke into tears while I was giving them their exams... I had finally reached my breaking point. I did what was told of me, but when I was finished I handed the coordinator the exams and said I wanted nothing to do with them... grade them how you want them to be graded and I will put them in the computer when we are done. I plan to reward these students with awards for using good English in class, in hopes that it will help avoid discouraging them from learning the language all together.
The thought process behind their thinking is, if the students are getting too high of grades, their parents wont see an improvement. Therefore they will take their child out of the school. Which then means, less MONEY for the school.
It was one of the most challenging days yet. I was in a funk all day. If i've learned one universal truth here, (aside from Fried Chicken and Michael Jackson) it is that:
M o n e y Talks a n d Bullshit W a l k s.
Cheers!
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QOTD : Would you have been able to bite your tongue?
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Wow... Those poor kids. And poor you! The way they do things there are certainly backwards. Cheating to improve a student's score does nothing for that student. And making them take the test again because they scored too high?! Crazy. If my child came home consistently showing good grades I would want to KEEP them in that school bc the teachers are clearly doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have done exactly what you did. Their rules are embedded in their culture and sadly there's not much you can do to change it. The best you can do (and did) is express your feelings but do the job that is asked of you. You're in a foreign land with foreign customs and it's best not to get yourself in trouble and possibly lose your job.
Using your own classroom time to reward and encourage your students to keep trying is very honorable of you. It sounds like you're doing a great job teaching these kids and I'm sure they will continue to try hard for you!
This broke my heart! I imagined those little Thai kiddies sitting in the desks... Probably worried and wondering why they have to take their tests again... I probably would have been quiet but I definitely would have been crying :( Please give them the awards!!! And just keep encouraging them and I'm sure you do that anyway, you and I know what its like to be that kid who struggles maybe more than the others in certain subjects :( it just makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteWho runs the world: MONEY.
I am so glad I decided after a few weeks student teaching in Thailand that I returned to teach in Cambodia. Cambodia has the complete opposite problem in their schools. They have NO guidelines at all. It is completely up to the teacher. At least it was at the schools I taught at. We wrote our own curriculums because, for some reason, old teachers would leave mid-term and not leave any notes or test examples. We wrote our own tests. I always had different types of question/answers even though it took a lot longer to grade because I believe people learn differently and test differently. I wanted them all to have a fair chance. I was lucky that my students' grades represented their class participation, homework, and general skills. At least I know that I was doing something right. And I got to help those that wanted to improve! Thailand is amazing, I truly think so. And even though I banged my head against a wall so many times because I almost NEVER knew what was going on or what was expected of me, I always felt like the hard work was worth it because I knew my students were learning. All of them that really wanted to and most of them that didn't. Haha! I'm sorry this is so hard for you. I understand. I couldn't stay in Thailand for just these reasons. But chin up! Just remember to look for the beautiful things. And someday you will miss when the students call you "cher".
ReplyDeleteWoah dude, that is all over crazy.
ReplyDeleteAnd then here in America there's the huge cheating scandal in Atlanta where millions of answers on tests where changed and many teachers are under question....
Chin up, girl. I can't imagine trying to play the game by someone else's rule. I'm sure these kids adore you and you are giving them more than you know. :)
Thank you everyone!
ReplyDelete@ Krista Jo- Aside from the grading. I do appreciate the structure of the curriculum but I wish I had a little more freedom with the kids. I have to stay on schedule which makes it hard for impromptu learning.