Final Exams: Teacher Edition

As I mentioned before, I have already tried to post on this topic, but unfortunately somehow bungled the excecution. While this new account will most likely be a stripped down version, I'm confident that this will actually benifit the reader. As these last few sentences help illustrate, I've noticed a tendency of long-winded-ness to my writing. That, coupled with the fact that I spell like an 8th grader, is sure to make for an unpleasant read. This post is sure to be quick, to the point, and full of unneccesary sex jokes. Come with me on this literary journey, won't you?

FYI: This post isn't that funny, but I would suggest reading through the whole thing anyway. This is because I think it's the most interesting thing I've written about so far. Who knows, maybe that's just me...

Finals are complete and the grades are in! This is certainly a load off my shoulders, but my thoughts are not yet free. I have lingering doubts that still plague me. Did I do it right? Did I grade some too hard? Did I grade most too easy? You see, the type of final exam that I had my students undergo, entirely left the fate of their grade up to me.

The exam consisted of a four minute speech on the topic "What did you learn in Tom's class?" I graded on pronunciation, vocabulary, flow, and content. No matter what the stated requirements were, the success or failure of a single studen't exam came down to whether or not I liked their speech. It wasn't until the first student finished her speech when I realized the level of responsibility that I had undertaken. Who am I to decide if a student's pronunciation is the 22 points that give them an A, or 20 points that give them a B?

Granted, this system of exam was recommended and shared by nearly every other teacher, but I couldn't help wonder if it was an appropriate way to hand out grades. It didn't account for a student's improvement and made effort a difficult thing to measure. Also, the only other factors that helped add up to a student's final grade were participation (which I based on impression, rather than data) and attendance. Did I pick favorites? Did I unfairly punish students that angered me throughout the term? I still ask myself these questions. I guess when you teach 55-60 students per class, you have to abandon some ideals.

In the end, I'm sure I was far too lenient on my classes. Then again, if there is to be an error made, I'm glad it's that one. You've gotta understand, I have so many students, I hardly recognized some of the people who stepped up to give a speech. Do I significantly cut their participation points because of this? That's a tough call. I can safely say that I gave the right grades to 20% of my best students and 20% of my worst students, but there was a not so small gray area for the rest of them.

The one comfort I have is that grades seem to be a lot less important at Chinese universities (or at least this one) than American. I base this on one simple, yet completely ridiculous fact: should any of my students fail, they can pay 50RMB (6 or 7 dollars) and recieve a passing grade. This is more money than it sounds for my students, but I don't have to tell you that grades for any price goes completely against the American system and would make some people cringe back home. I'm not stating that American schools are superior. I'm just stating differences. Though, this does make my job as a teacher more difficult.

All the difficulty I previously mentioned was amplified heavily by the fact that many of my students cheated, or attempted to cheat. This might seem strange to type so candidly, but as I shall explain, this behavior was so commonplace during the exams, that I came to think of these actions as something other than cheating. I know that sounds crazy, but bear with me here.

First let me list the ways my students cheated, or tried to cheat:
1. Brought written copies of their speech to the podium (that was a no-no)
2. Had friends mouthing their speech over my shoulder.
3. Had other students calling out the answers during the question portion of the exam.
4. Recited speeches that were clearly taken out of a book.
5. Repeatedly looked over my shoulder to try and see what thier grade was (That wasn't really cheating, but still pissed me off).

I know these actions sound pretty bad. Some would explain for an instant failing grade at an American university, others would merit expulsion. Yet, at the Hunan Internation University of Economics, this was not the case. After writting and deleting over five sentences trying to explain why this is, I have just now come to the conclusion that I don't really understand it myself. All I know is that these practices were so widespread, I was forced to adopt new definitions of cheating, as opposed to enforcing my own definition and only passing half my students. I scolded each student like an old mother, but only took away a few points for each instance.

For one thing, this style of exam seemed to go against everything these kids had academically prepared for up to this point. Since many of them have previously been taught by teachers with very poor spoken english themselves (I've met them), this is probably one of the first times they have been tested on the subject. In contrast, Chinese students are quite good at written english and reading. This helps explain their almost rabid desire to read their speech, as opposed to reciting it.

Also, they absolutely hated the topic I gave them for their speech. I honestly thought I making their lives a whole lot easier by giving them such a basic and open-ended question, but couldn't have been further from the truth. For better or for worse, the Chinese education system doesn't seem to place a whole lot of emphasis on creativity and orginality. The question "What did you learn in Tom's class?" just didn't give them that roadmap to victory that they yearned for. They wanted something specific, something they could research, something that had a right answer.

I believe this drove my students to plagerize their speeches more than their desire to skip half the process. Each student is given two or three books that are collections of short essays on random topics. It just so happens that it takes 4 to 5 minutes to read one of these essays out loud (great!). You can add up the result. Because my exam topic forced my students to connect their speech to my class, it became quite easy to locate those that drew from someone else's well.

"In Tom's class we talked about sports. The Olympics are the most important sport games in the world. The first Olympics took place in Greece. They were held in Athens in the year 45 B.C. The Athenians made sure to..."

Guess what? I never talked about the Olympics in class, much less the first Olympics in Athens. I cite this specific example because I heard this speech a number of times throughout exam week.

I don't know, being a teaching during finals week is still a lot better than being a student, but its so draining in a completely different way. The anxiety comes afterwards this time. Technically, you can't do anything wrong, but you still worry like hell that you did.

On Deck: Tommy takes a trip to Shanghai and Nanjing. Oldschool buddy for life, Lauren Knapp makes a celebrity cameo appearance.

In The Hole: Tommy's entire family is visiting this week! Watch as Tommy tries to entertain four edgy people with jet lag in a tourist free city! Are troubles brewing, or is this trip going to be as smooth as Chinese silk?

There's only one way to find out! Same html, same blog, on CHINA 1, TOMMY 0! We'll see you then.