Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Report Cards

Something else that used to bother me but I just slough off is report cards. If you are working at a hagwon they are a fucking joke. In my first year I tried taking them seriously but wasn't allowed to. You weren't allowed to say anything negative. You weren't allowed to give a mark below C. In fact you really weren't supposed to give a mark below B. What the kimchi? So I railed against the machine. "Why waste our time if we aren't allowed to give a real report card?" "Because you must."

I quickly caught onto how to do it but still felt it was a waste of time. I would use words say what the student was really doing that our director wouldn't know, and odds are the parents too. Sometimes I would slip in the plain truth and see if it got past the director.

At one hole I worked at we weren't allowed to send any mark home that was below 70%. So you would have siblings going home with different size envelopes. The good one would have a thick envelope of tests and assignments all graded. The bad one would have an almost empty envelope. The parents weren't amused and the director would of course blame it on the foreign teacher not giving assignments or tests.

The last hagwon I worked at was great. We were actually allowed to say the truth in report cards. In one case we were painfully honest and it worked. For whatever reason within 2 weeks of getting the report card the student changed and became a good student. Unfortunately those days are done. I am at one that wants you to sugar coat or lie. What the kimchi? Why get worked up. Just play the game.

4 comments:

  1. How long does such a 'kind act' by hagwon continue? Also, what happens with the exam results in schools? Do schools blatantly sugar coat? Won't the parents be surprised when the school puts the kid in less than 50% group but the hagwon puts the kid in more than 70% group?

    Hagowns are the private after-school cram sessions teaching predominantly what the school has taught. Difference of 20%~30% when left unnoticed is surprising.

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  2. Hard to say when they catch on.

    I do know that a lot of parents who found out their kids were in the under 70% would pull them and put them in a hagwon that would say they were above that level. Some parents go through hagwons like a chain smoker.

    For the most part running a hagwon seems to be more about keeping the mom's happy by saying the kids are progressing and not an actual education. Not all hagwons but most of the ones I have had experience with.

    It's all about the sejongs in the end to the director

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  3. Flint,

    I have not been into Hagwons so I apologize if my questions sound silly.

    What do mothers expect from Hagwons? What good will the inflated scores of Hagwons do if the kid can't score in school-exams or other exams that may be part of kid's childhood?

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  4. No worries Ajay. It is a good question. A hard one to answer. I am not exactly sure what they expect. (Keep in mind not EVERY Korean mother acts the way I am talking about ... but many of the ones I have seen/heard about have.) In my experience they seem to want you to acknowledge their child is the best and brightest. They want them to advance, and the faster than their friends kids the better.

    Except for one hagwon I have worked at they all ignored what the childs skill level really was if the parents (usually mom) said "My child is this level." Which means kids get put in over their head and their learning suffers for it. Hell the class they are in suffers for it because you have to take more time away from the other students to try and help the mismatched student.

    If their child doesn't advance to their satisfaction it is the teachers fault. Whether directly blamed by the parent or trickling down from the director it is always our fault.

    Sometimes reality does rear it's ugly head. Their child does shitty on school exams or other tests like JET. Then it is your fault and they move on to another hagwon. Which is what the directors fear and why they pander to the parents.

    I guess when it comes down to it for many parents they want to be deluded. As long as they perceive their child is doing well they are happy.

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