Winter Holiday and Exams

Yeterday I finished my last exams. Now all I have to do is finish grading them and enter in grades. I was disappointed with the results of my current events class. I made the mistake of letting them use their dictonary during the exam. So, for some questions, I have answers taken from the dictonary word for word.

I find it stange. Sure, some of them didn't pay attention. Classes in China are pretty much pass/fail. As far as I can tell, undergraduate gpas aren't important for things like going to grad school. So the incentives really aren''t there, unless you're one of the very few students on scholarship.

Still, some of them did listen. But for some questions everyone decided to copy their answer out from the dictonary. The sad fact is they're afraid. They're afraid to write and they're afraid to listen. So, instead of taking a chance and expressing an idea in their own words, they steal the words of others. Instead of listening and forming their own understanding, they search for a ready-made interpertation.

There were only four individuals that did something unexpected on their exam. The rest of the variation came from the three different dictonaries being used. And when it came to answering factual questions and not merely defining things, they did very poorly.

These are all future students mind you. If they're too afraid think up answers that aren't in their books, they're not likely to tolerate novel answers from their students.


Anyways, some fresh thoughts for you all. Sorry for grammar and spelling. This computer hasn't any spell check unless I write in Chinese.