Tuesday, June 28, 2005
School Tests
I've got a lot of topics for future blogs, just not all of them can be drawn out into full blog length. Maybe I'll do a whole series of rapid fire mini-blogs in the coming days. For now though...
We had the first term tests at school last week. Whenever these tests go down, I usually have some hand in it, from making the test questions, to correcting and so on. Today we gave the tests back. There's something weird I noticed about what Japanese teachers think is a good score compared to what we as Canadians (I use the term generally, however this is what I perceive to be true back home) think.
A few students get in the teens and 20's, for example 10 out of 50. If you're keeping score at home, that's 20%. On the comments they get at the bottom of their page, my teacher wrote stuff like "I can see you are doing well", "your effort is finally paying off" and so on. On the one hand I can see not damaging someone's fragile confidence, especially when it comes to learning a language like English (I'm not sure what goes on in the other subjects when a test is returned), but creating a false sense of confidence also seems not good for the kids. I don't think these kids should get complimented after pulling a 10 out of 50; instead they should be offered constructive criticism and hints on how to improve the next time around.
On a related note, we calculate the average score for each class. When these classes are pulling an average of 32 or so, they get complimented. Why is that? That's only 64%. The academic level when I was in Junior High on a test like this was like 40...it seemed that everyone could pull or pulled at least 80%.
We had the first term tests at school last week. Whenever these tests go down, I usually have some hand in it, from making the test questions, to correcting and so on. Today we gave the tests back. There's something weird I noticed about what Japanese teachers think is a good score compared to what we as Canadians (I use the term generally, however this is what I perceive to be true back home) think.
A few students get in the teens and 20's, for example 10 out of 50. If you're keeping score at home, that's 20%. On the comments they get at the bottom of their page, my teacher wrote stuff like "I can see you are doing well", "your effort is finally paying off" and so on. On the one hand I can see not damaging someone's fragile confidence, especially when it comes to learning a language like English (I'm not sure what goes on in the other subjects when a test is returned), but creating a false sense of confidence also seems not good for the kids. I don't think these kids should get complimented after pulling a 10 out of 50; instead they should be offered constructive criticism and hints on how to improve the next time around.
On a related note, we calculate the average score for each class. When these classes are pulling an average of 32 or so, they get complimented. Why is that? That's only 64%. The academic level when I was in Junior High on a test like this was like 40...it seemed that everyone could pull or pulled at least 80%.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
I really hate that
Back from a very good month with my brother, that means (hopefully) I'll be back blogging on a regular basis. To kick things off, this is something that really annoys me to the point of making my blood boil: people who are too stupid to use email properly.
Here's what I mean. Most people know what a list serve email is, and probably most people are either on one, or have been sent an email by one before. List serve emails are general in nature, as their contents apply to everyone who gets the mail. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.
I belong to a list serve of fellow Kumamoto Jets; the emails sent are updates, upcoming events, things for sale and so on, the kind of stuff that is somewhat important to read. What drives me absolutely crazy is when people reply to the general email specifically to one person, yet don't change the address of the receiver. Are they stupid, or do they just forget? AHHHH. It's kind of common courtesy, not to mention common sense. Here's an example of emails that often appear in my inbox:
Hey John,
Are you going to the party this weekend too? Hell yeah, rock on bro. Can you give me a ride? I'll bring my futon and sleeping bag and liquor, so if you could pick me up that would be great. Failing that, we could meet at Starbucks.
Later dude,
Steve
Of course that email is sent to the list, so everyone gets to read it, although it was only meant for John's eyes. And people like Steve are often repeat offenders, they commit the cardinal sin of emailing on a regular basis. I don't think I need to read any email that appears in my inbox, but giving people the benefit of the doubt that they can't possibly be that stupid, I always read them and get disappointed. Maybe I should order a case of emailing for dummies rom Amazon...
Here's what I mean. Most people know what a list serve email is, and probably most people are either on one, or have been sent an email by one before. List serve emails are general in nature, as their contents apply to everyone who gets the mail. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.
I belong to a list serve of fellow Kumamoto Jets; the emails sent are updates, upcoming events, things for sale and so on, the kind of stuff that is somewhat important to read. What drives me absolutely crazy is when people reply to the general email specifically to one person, yet don't change the address of the receiver. Are they stupid, or do they just forget? AHHHH. It's kind of common courtesy, not to mention common sense. Here's an example of emails that often appear in my inbox:
Hey John,
Are you going to the party this weekend too? Hell yeah, rock on bro. Can you give me a ride? I'll bring my futon and sleeping bag and liquor, so if you could pick me up that would be great. Failing that, we could meet at Starbucks.
Later dude,
Steve
Of course that email is sent to the list, so everyone gets to read it, although it was only meant for John's eyes. And people like Steve are often repeat offenders, they commit the cardinal sin of emailing on a regular basis. I don't think I need to read any email that appears in my inbox, but giving people the benefit of the doubt that they can't possibly be that stupid, I always read them and get disappointed. Maybe I should order a case of emailing for dummies rom Amazon...
