[etni] school forces teacher to accept log really late and clearly totally copied
- From: Shem Ilui <nungfutz@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 27 May 2013 16:13:52 +0200
I taught a class to four points and all passed. I was proud, they were not
strong students. I continued teaching to five, g and the log, and some
students decided to drop out - they had four and that was enough for them,
and for many of them it was a right decision, given their overall workloads
and level.
One boy did about 3 summative tests, handed in no tasks at all during the
year, and tended to ignore me and just play with his phone in class when he
managed to come - so clearly he had given up on the work of the log.
He did pass G though, and a few days ago he turned up and wanted to do a
log for me. I explained that it did not work like that.
Then my merakez - under pressure from higher up - told me I had to accept
whatever the boy handed in. So the boy gave me the log. It was just a copy
- print out of a log I had already been given by his best friend, another
student in the class who had worked seriously and painstakingly on his log,
in consultation with me.
A simple copy - I mean word for word, spelling mistake for spelling
mistake, grammar mistake for grammar mistake, even the creative tasks -
dialogues, letters from literary characters - were identical. He had just
taken the Word file from his friend and printed it out again.
So I told my merakez I cannot accept it, and that I thought was the end of
it.
The next day my merakez tells me I am making trouble for him, he has just
come from a meeting with the headmaster and the boy's class teacher and
tremendous pressure is being put on him, why am I making trouble, I may be
right but this is not how things are done.
So I marked the log, giving marks only for the three summative tests the
boy had done and nothing else - a fail mark of course - and sent it in. I
await further reaction from the school. Will they leave it alone now?
It is now clear why I must write this anonymously. Trouble or fuss makers
in school are not liked. I should not mention this matter at all. Why rock
the boat? I need my job. Other teachers tell me when they made a fuss about
a case copying in the past they were sorry later. Just keep it quiet and
give a mark, so I have been advised by a veteran teacher I like and respect.
I think the log system is too open to abuse. Schools want the maximum
number of passing students. They often choose not to stand up to parents
who make a fuss or are connected. No fuss wanted. Unfair pressures are put
on teachers who cannot risk offending the powers that be.
This really bothers me, but it has been made clear to me that I cannot
stand up for what I believe in. And nobody is mentioning education, or the
need to educate our students that this is not the way to succeed. The same
day two others who had handed in no log asked if they can hand it in now
too.
I respectfully submit that there should just be exams for literature, as I
believe there were years ago, before literature was dropped for a while.
The logs can be used to prepare for the exams.
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