so i just got done grading my first set of high school english exams. i must say i was a bit disheartened as i used my red pen more amply than i had imagined i would. the students were being graded out of 70 possible points and many of their scores were coming back as 48/70, 45/70, 32/70 and even as low as 20/70. i couldnt believe that these seeminlgy hardworking students were doing so horribly! out of 26 students only 2 scored in the 90's and the average score ended up being right around 72%. i pass these figures on to you because most of you remember high school and what was expected of you as far as test grades go and what it felt like to get one back with red marks all over it and a nice 65% grade. it felt crappy. you may have even hidden your score from your friends or your mom. i know i would have. but oooooohhhh friends, this is NOT the japanse way.
i handed the scores over to iriguchi sensei who had to enter them into the student database on his computer. he asked me how i thought the kids did and i told him that i was disappointed. to my great surprise when he was done filling the test scores out he responded back to me about them (both the response and the nature of the response were surprising). he told me that the students had done very, very well. in fact the students had done too well. it is the goal of the japanese high school system to keep all student grades between 55-65%. a lower average score is unacceptable and there will have to be something done about getting the students average grade up a few points, and a higher average score is also unacceptable and points will equally be taken from students so that their average falls within the given numbers. WWWWWHHAT!? he also told me that any student, on any test, at any time getting a grade of 100% is nearly impossible and perhaps will never happen in the high school career of any japanse student. apparently the grades one needs to pass here are a mere 30% and then you can move on a grade or even graduate. that's right, i triple checked and spoke way too loudly when i reponded to make sure he knew how crazy he sounded me to when he relayed this information. earn yourself a 30% in most classes in high school and you've earned yourself graduation from the japanese public school system!
here is where the discrepency lies; it is EXTREMELY hard to get into a japanese college and the students know this. though many of my students here will try to get in, many more of them are not even attempting it and looking towards other careers that won't require any further schooling after the 12th grade. while it is okay for students to do badly (at least by american standards) they must perform at a very high level to get into any school of recognition for post-secondary schooling. this is why they labor long and hard at juku, or study classes many of them attend after they are done with their 10 or 12 hour school day. they are not preparing for what is asked of them today or even next year, they are preparing for a test that they will have to take in many years. it is so strange to me, but so are a lot of things here. it is just the japanese way...
No comments:
Post a Comment