Sparkling Korea hasn’t done this in a while to me, so I guess I was overdue for another headache moment.
For the next three weeks, I’ll be giving individual reading tests to students. I sit in a room and they come in one at a time. Each student will pick from a series of pre-prepared cards and read them to me. I will record and grade each student based on their ability. Simple, right?
Well, here’s the wrinkle in the system. When my co-teacher’s handed me the grading scale to use, they also gave me a set number of grades I could give out per grade. Which means if I have a class of 34 students, then only 5 can be A’s, 6 can be B’s and so on.
Excuse me????
So you mean to tell me that I have a set number of each grade to give out? This means I have worry about the fact that one student might just work their ass of and really do a good job, but because I gave all my “A’s” I have to give them a B? Are we serious?
Somehow they have pre-determined the grades for the students even before they start. How the hell?
I asked about this and while I didn’t get an exact reason, they just explained that I have to use each set of numbers. So I’m forced to be really conservative with my grades. Yesterday I found myself dinging them for every little thing. Plus, I’ve been here a year so I have a fairly good idea of who will do a good job and who won’t. But that doesn’t mean someone won’t harder.
This makes me wonder how many other grades come out like this????
Now it’s been brought to my attention that this isn’t that unusual a practice, even back in the US. To me, the idea of such a practice is insane. What happened to getting the grade you earned?
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