a little coffee

Finally! The end of the semester approaches!

Last term, with the exception of my two asshole classes, I enjoyed Exam Week because 1) I didn’t have to prepare anything and 2) watching the students prepared sketches was actually entertaining. The best students were creative and put in effort to write and then perform a piece. 

Monday I was ready to sit back and enjoy the shows. Which I did for the first two classes and then it was time for my afternoon class. Out of a group of 49 students, I had only ever seen, at best 30, and that was the first few weeks of class when I took attendance. The numbers slowly dwindled from there until I hit a record low of 5 students one day. About half the faces I saw come through the classroom that afternoon were brand new or forgotten. Their exams were complete crap, a joke really. 

Part of this, I know realize, is my fault. Unlike last semester when I gave the students an option of a debate or sketch (which most of them chose), I added presentation to the list. I insisted, repeatedly, both in writing and verbally, that it must be a group presentation. The group must work together, must interact with each other, to present their topic. AND I wanted explanations, not descriptions or summaries. 

Most of them completely disregarded this and for nearly three hours I listened to 43 speeches that ranged in time from one to five minutes. The most popular topics were travel and film so I either got a description of a place (some included population statistics, the height of a statue) or the plot summery of a film. Come on now. How hard is it to say “I like this film because of…” and have a group member say “I agree because… Also, I think…” ?

On Tuesday, two equally large classes pulled the same stunt. One class didn’t even put up the pretense of a presentation by having all group members stand up at the same time, but went one by one to the front of the room and delivered a bad speech. 

I’m still boggled that so many students deliberately ignored their very plain instructions. (I’m confident that I got my point across because groups in the three other classes that did presentations did quite a good job giving an actual presentation.) Then I remembered that the entire concept of an exam, at this university is a sham. If teachers do the shocking thing and fail a student, the student knows, every one knows, that that student will still pass and graduate and get their degree. (If mommy or daddy has a good job, they’ll be set up with a good job). So as long as the student shows up and does something for the exam they’ll pass. Even if I give them a 2 out of 100, the English department will most likely change it to a passing grade. What the hell is the point of even doing an exam if the school is going to monkey with the grades anyway?

This speaks for the class, Oral English, too. Most students don’t think speaking English is so important, which is unsurprising when their English career up until college has been in training for the uber difficult and life-changing College Entrance Exam, which doesn’t include an Oral part. Many students don’t bother to come to class, which I’m OK with. Means a much more manageable class size, but even the students that still come don’t always participate. If I ask them to do an activity, most of them just sit or read their books. So again, what the hell’s the point of even making this class a requirement if, clearly, the university doesn’t even care?

Now I’m left wondering what to with all these students. Its especially obnoxious because several good students who have participated in class and are very articulate pulled the same shenanigans as their terrible classmates. Maybe I should just pass everyone because it’s not worth the effort of thinking about all of this?

Ba. Three more classes to go.