Source - Bangkok Post (Eng)

Tuesday, September 09, 2008  10:09

Pass mark and morality test

In the news last month, the "Education" section of the  Bangkok Post reported that Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) students would have to obtain an accumulated grade point average of at least 1.5 in the new draft curriculum aired to the public on Jan 26.

It was only later in the article that I discovered that this was an increase from the existing 1.0, and it was designed as a tool to help students who did not pay attention to their studies.

A Thai colleague commented to me that when she was at school, the accumulated grade point average was 2.0, so why are the averages going down?

In the same article, a moral virtue requirement was discussed. This would involve students doing community service in order to increase their sense of morality or at least their accumulated grade point average. I am not sure which. Will this be tested using multiple choice or will the community service be enough?

Internal quality assurance

If educational establishments had effective internal quality assurance mechanisms, some of the problems mentioned in the newspaper's article may have already been ironed out.

An area that I find difficult to deal with is those teachers who are considered "kind". They let their students pass, rather than have them lose face, and fail them when they do not come up to the standard required.

In my opinion, there is nothing kind in letting a student progress to the next class in order to hold everyone back because he or she is not ready. There is nothing kind in allowing weaker students to pass, and stronger students see their extra efforts go unrewarded.

There is also nothing kind in allowing students to progress all the way to universities, where they are doomed to fall flat on their face on the first day.

It does not matter whether teachers are being kind, or that parents are exerting pressure on their children's teachers. There is an English saying: "You have to be cruel to be kind", which I feel sums it up best.

Teachers are not doing their students any favours by allowing them to progress when they have not earned the right to do so. Once students leave the security of our educational establishments, who will give them their automatic passing grades?

As teachers, we are supposed to be setting examples for our students. What sort of example do we show by "being kind", when all students and parents know what is going on? Surely, it is time to stop all these deceits and allow transparency and honesty back into the education system and our classrooms.

All is not lost

If students need extra help to achieve preset targets, then it is our duty as teachers to help them as much as we can. What has to be remembered is that education is not for everyone.

We are not all academically inclined. So, during the course of life, some students will fall by the wayside, and they will have to complete extra work or repeat a previous academic year.

While this is not a good experience for the students at the time, like it or not, this is part of life's great tapestry. It is better to learn this lesson while at school, rather than during one's working life, where the consequences could be more serious.

Dr Kasama Voravan na Ayudhya, the secretary-general of the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec), has promised to initiate plans to assist those students who are slow learners before the new graduation rules are promulgated.

This can only be done if teachers are more honest. Otherwise, there will be no slow learners to help, as they would have already "passed" their examinations. Once these learners have been identified, it will be possible to conduct special programmes within their schools to help them keep up with their classmates.

Of course, this is an even greater burden to put upon our teachers. However, I would like to differentiate between those students who are slower and those who do not come to class and do not care about their studies.

The former will always be helped by their teachers; the latter need to learn very quickly that nobody owes them a living, and that you have to work toward what you want.

Steve Graham is an English language teacher at the Language Centre, Udon Thani Rajabhat University in northeast Thailand. If you would like to discuss matters related to English or teaching English, contact Steve at shedchelsea@hotmail.co.uk .