Grading Homework in China
Note that I am actually pre-dating the post to see if *I* can "cheat" the system. My subscribers, of course, will know exactly when I send the email (assuming emails are SENT when I publish them, not always correct, but NEVER MIND! grin - there's Emily Littela again!).
Speaking of cheating or do I need to say cooperating?!!? The Chinese students do not seem to understand the idea of competition or privacy or cheating. OH - They KNOW what the terms mean, understand the meaning but not the ramifications - especially in the real world, including here in China! Competition is fierce on the street!
I have given up the idea of Quizzes being a true "Western style" quiz. I just make the quizzes very hard so that the students NEED to think and talk about the answers! They EVEN ask me, to which of course I say: "Ting Bu Dong" - which means "I do not understand" or I say: "Bu Zhi Dao" which means "I do not know!" That's NOT very satisfying to them, needless to say! Laughing - but they accept it. We have a quiz per day as I am required to keep attendance records - the QUOTA system of the old China order still at work! The attitude: "I do not care if they understand, were they in class?!?"
However, the homeworks are the worst!!! Most of the students have EXACTLY the same homework! I mean EXACTLY! Now Morgan Bridge at Mesa State College used to decry the fact that many of our students also turned in the same work. However, we agreed that we would give no points to the students if their work matched. That doesn't work here! Furthermore, I can still flunk students who copy all of the homework and quizzes, OR better yet, give them a 61%! Which means, a student actually tried but couldn't really figure out anything!
NOW - this term I had to totally quit giving any points during the last week. That's how *I* made MY point!
One class turned in quizzes for students who were NOT in class - the cooperation aspect! Two of my best students were included! I am not sure if they knew or not, but that doesn't matter. I know who ALL of my students are (with one or two exceptions - the guys who flunked the first term so were not in my second term class but now are in third term). Furthermore, I handed back three assignments (two quizzes and one homework) to them, so I knew EXACTLY who was in class!
So I thought: "Why am I even trying to grade 70 homeworks and quizzes for 5 more assignments. They do not deserve the points." I also asked many of the faculty and administration members before taking any action. So they only have 470 total points, instead of 500. A certain 30/30 points PLUS THE ALL IMPORTANT FREE QUIZ will NOT be included in their total!
I am too nice of a person, I know! A "character" flaw, I am sure, but at least *I* know this! Laughing!
So then I go down to the Zha Bei classes and collect their assignments (the ones I told the Jia Ding class that I would not collect - their final grade is what is on the grade sheet now!). Here's the level of cheating in Zha Bei: those who had finished, turned in their assignments, the others were still copying - FROM THEIR CELL PHONES!!! What a RIOT!!!
But that was not what caused THE Zha Bei students to lose THEIR final 30 points!!! NO, one student actually handed in the Instructor's Manual answers - TYPED!!! In other words, did no work! Laughing! Just handed them in! Furthermore, he expected me to give them back when no one else received theirs back!!! Laughing - ahhh, my evidence if anyone needs me to show it. After all, they all have the answers (some did not cheat as they REALLY wanted to learn - I do have some very good students, as always is true).
So again, I just didn't hand back the homework, no more quizzes the last two days of class OR free quiz!! And these students especially need the free quiz points - I know that you ALL benefited, but these kids won't pass otherwise!! Oh well!
The kids from SILC will all go to Australia and so they will HAVE to learn these things from someone!
Furthermore, since I will be here another year, *I* must make sure to let the students know they NEED to be smarter than this! I HAVE to call you on it if you are too obvious! Even Andrew (卜安吉) Jiao Shou (教授)!
(Professor Andrew)
Laughing!
Speaking of cheating or do I need to say cooperating?!!? The Chinese students do not seem to understand the idea of competition or privacy or cheating. OH - They KNOW what the terms mean, understand the meaning but not the ramifications - especially in the real world, including here in China! Competition is fierce on the street!
I have given up the idea of Quizzes being a true "Western style" quiz. I just make the quizzes very hard so that the students NEED to think and talk about the answers! They EVEN ask me, to which of course I say: "Ting Bu Dong" - which means "I do not understand" or I say: "Bu Zhi Dao" which means "I do not know!" That's NOT very satisfying to them, needless to say! Laughing - but they accept it. We have a quiz per day as I am required to keep attendance records - the QUOTA system of the old China order still at work! The attitude: "I do not care if they understand, were they in class?!?"
However, the homeworks are the worst!!! Most of the students have EXACTLY the same homework! I mean EXACTLY! Now Morgan Bridge at Mesa State College used to decry the fact that many of our students also turned in the same work. However, we agreed that we would give no points to the students if their work matched. That doesn't work here! Furthermore, I can still flunk students who copy all of the homework and quizzes, OR better yet, give them a 61%! Which means, a student actually tried but couldn't really figure out anything!
NOW - this term I had to totally quit giving any points during the last week. That's how *I* made MY point!
One class turned in quizzes for students who were NOT in class - the cooperation aspect! Two of my best students were included! I am not sure if they knew or not, but that doesn't matter. I know who ALL of my students are (with one or two exceptions - the guys who flunked the first term so were not in my second term class but now are in third term). Furthermore, I handed back three assignments (two quizzes and one homework) to them, so I knew EXACTLY who was in class!
So I thought: "Why am I even trying to grade 70 homeworks and quizzes for 5 more assignments. They do not deserve the points." I also asked many of the faculty and administration members before taking any action. So they only have 470 total points, instead of 500. A certain 30/30 points PLUS THE ALL IMPORTANT FREE QUIZ will NOT be included in their total!
I am too nice of a person, I know! A "character" flaw, I am sure, but at least *I* know this! Laughing!
So then I go down to the Zha Bei classes and collect their assignments (the ones I told the Jia Ding class that I would not collect - their final grade is what is on the grade sheet now!). Here's the level of cheating in Zha Bei: those who had finished, turned in their assignments, the others were still copying - FROM THEIR CELL PHONES!!! What a RIOT!!!
But that was not what caused THE Zha Bei students to lose THEIR final 30 points!!! NO, one student actually handed in the Instructor's Manual answers - TYPED!!! In other words, did no work! Laughing! Just handed them in! Furthermore, he expected me to give them back when no one else received theirs back!!! Laughing - ahhh, my evidence if anyone needs me to show it. After all, they all have the answers (some did not cheat as they REALLY wanted to learn - I do have some very good students, as always is true).
So again, I just didn't hand back the homework, no more quizzes the last two days of class OR free quiz!! And these students especially need the free quiz points - I know that you ALL benefited, but these kids won't pass otherwise!! Oh well!
The kids from SILC will all go to Australia and so they will HAVE to learn these things from someone!
Furthermore, since I will be here another year, *I* must make sure to let the students know they NEED to be smarter than this! I HAVE to call you on it if you are too obvious! Even Andrew (卜安吉) Jiao Shou (教授)!
(Professor Andrew)
Laughing!
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