Homework
I probably shouldn't do this, but I'm going to anyway. Most of my students' homework is unoriginal, and most of it is plagiarized anyway, but occasionally, I get something worth mentioning. I'm posting something written by a student named Anne, who is intermediate level English. The assignment was "write about your past and present". It may not seem like anything unusual, but people who know something about Chinese culture will appreciate this. I think it's interesting regardless. I've posted the assignment as it was submitted, with no corrections.
In the past, I really thought that grade encourage our to learn. However, I've changed my mind now.
Given the opportunity, students will spend time using their intelligence to figure out how to get a higher or top grade without doing the real work of the course and without thinking, rather than spending the same time thinking and exploring, regardless of what grade this may bring them. It isn't that these students are not motivated. It's just that they're not as motivated to learn as much as they're motivated to get good grades. Once one becomes grade-oriented in ones thiking, it is difficult for him or her to stop thinking that way.
Anybody who gets top grades is, in some sense, a winner of the system. But these seeming winners are, far too often, losers of a more important game. To win the grade competition in high school, most of these "winners" learned to ask what was expected of them and they did just that. They had to make sure they got high scores by every test. They wanted to know from their high school teachers if the material being covered on a given day was going to be on the test, because they realized early on that the test is all that matter.
When these "sucesses" of the system arrive in college, they have not changed their attitudes. They fear oped-ended assignments. They are impatient with discussions that are not going in any particular direction except where the interests of the discussants dictate, since they know that such discussions waste time that could have been better spent studying for a test. What these students have learned from school is the underlying message that the world is run by authorities who have definite points of view. These system has taught them that the way to get along in the world is to understand and to cater to those points of view espoused by the educational "authorities". Cleverness pays, but disagreement does not. Such students are in the process of becoming "yes men".
On the other hand, students who do less well in highschoool are often rebelling against curricula they see as irrelevent to their lives. This type of student judges what goes on in school according to how well it relates to his own day-to-day concerns. If alegbra does not seem relavent to the problems such students face, then they see little need to pay attention to it. But schools don't think like this, so the conclusion drawn by many students is that since so mcuh is irrelvent, they might as well tune it out. These students learn to get by as well as they can, separating themselves from other kids who are willing to play the game.
12:34 AM
November 24
Another Update
I finally put up the Halloween pictures. Yes, I know, it's a month later. Today is actually American Thanksgiving, so there will be pictures from that too. Hopefully, I'll put them up before Christmas. Oh, and the Chinese staff at my office have had a lot of fun decorating the office this week with Christmas decorations. Some of the Santas look a little Chinese, but very charming. We even have a tree that's 6 inches too tall for our reception area. No presents yet though. We've been talking about snow too, but most of the students regard it as a kind of fairy tale. They don't really have any real coniferous trees around Wuxi, so I guess I'll have to decorate a palm tree this year. Sorry to all the people who are freezing their asses off while I discuss the disadvantages of decorating palm trees. But, it's nice for one year not to have to worry about getting someone else to shovel snow off the driveway.... well, Christmas is a time for honesty...
Ummm, anyway, I just want to briefly discuss all the things in the news about China that DO NOT affect me in any way:
1. Petrochemical plant explosion that killed a bunch of people and made another bunch sick with the fumes...
2. ...and then leaked poison into the main water supply for Haerbin resulting in a safe water supply shortage. I am nowhere near this. China is big.
3. Any of the mining accidents.
2. Bird flu - hasn't come close to my town yet and the Chinese are actually working quite hard to deal with it, as opposed to SARS.... Two people have died from it according to the Chinese government, but with a population of over 1.3 billion people, no one is worried. There is of course the Tamiflu vaccine...
This is a picture from www.theonion.com
3:54 AM
November 08
update
Okay, as an update:
1. I have heard absolutely nothing from the ad agency regarding the motorcycle commerical, so I guess I don't have to worry about modelling for now...
2. I have more pictures to put up for Halloween, but I haven't done it yet...
3. We will be attempting an American Thanksgiving Dinner on the 24th of November, which should be good. More to follow.
That is all.
2:11 AM
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