 영어토론방 | Home>영어토론방 |
Elementary-school grading plan fuels dispute
페이지 정보
본문
A dispute surfaced over how to properly grade students in elementary schools after Seoul City's new education superintendent said he plans to bring back the old system that gives scores according to achievement. Superintendent Kong Jung-tak's comments drew mixed responses from the education field, with some welcoming the plan as being more realistic while others opposed it as damaging to the new drive for creative education. Although the education superintendent does not have the authority to change the system, Kong's remarks are likely to start a hot debate among teachers and parents over whether the current system needs an alternative.
Based on an Education Ministry regulation that went into effect in Dec. 1997, schools must refrain from evaluating students based on scores or written tests, and instead watch and appraise them with descriptive and subjective assessment. All public elementary schools and most private schools have thus been evaluating students by describing behavior and achievement in letters rather than keeping scores equivalent to ABCDF in English for the past several years. But complaints have been rising among parents who claim the new system lacks information needed to help their children build up their strengths and deal with their weaknesses. Making his acceptance speech as the new education superintendent, Kong said he was looking over a plan to change the current evaluation method to reintroduce a scoring system. Kong's remarks immediately prompted protests from teachers' groups, with representatives saying such a change would end up putting more burdens on the students.
"An education policy that aims to foster just several excellent students will not only be difficult for parents or teachers to support, but would also draw full-frontal confrontation from education and civic groups," said the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union.
Kong was elected on Wednesday over another candidate nominated by 15 teachers' groups, including the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union. Responses from ordinary teachers and parents were, by contrast, positive. "I actually agree with (Kong's) proposal, as it is extremely vague when your child is evaluated just with descriptions because teachers tend to tone down their opinions, making it very hard for the parents to understand precisely how their kids are doing (in schools)," said Lee Jong-mi, 35, mother of a second-grade son.
"Giving subjective descriptions in evaluating a child could easily turn emotional, not to mention it being almost impossible for the teacher to be fully attentive for a class with at least 50 children," she said.
Such a system should be introduced when the educational environment improves, she added. A teacher in charge of a second-grade class at the Demonstration Elementary School of College of Education, Chung Ang University, agreed. "It is inept to assess a child by describing how the child is with words without giving leveled-out scores," said Ahn Byeong-duk. Ahn explained that parents found it hard to check specifically how their children were faring in schools and thus provide appropriate help. Some other teachers suggested wider autonomy to schools to decide on their own how to assess students.
The Education Ministry said it would look further into the system should the protests increase but added that it was unlikely the regulation would be changed.
Question
1. Do you agree to the new superintendent's proposal?
2. Do you have any special memory about old score system?
(for example, delete low score and change it more higher...)
3. What will be a side effect returning to old score system?
이 글은「대학연합영어토론동아리」www.pioneerclub.com에서 제공하는 영어토론 정보입니다.
Based on an Education Ministry regulation that went into effect in Dec. 1997, schools must refrain from evaluating students based on scores or written tests, and instead watch and appraise them with descriptive and subjective assessment. All public elementary schools and most private schools have thus been evaluating students by describing behavior and achievement in letters rather than keeping scores equivalent to ABCDF in English for the past several years. But complaints have been rising among parents who claim the new system lacks information needed to help their children build up their strengths and deal with their weaknesses. Making his acceptance speech as the new education superintendent, Kong said he was looking over a plan to change the current evaluation method to reintroduce a scoring system. Kong's remarks immediately prompted protests from teachers' groups, with representatives saying such a change would end up putting more burdens on the students.
"An education policy that aims to foster just several excellent students will not only be difficult for parents or teachers to support, but would also draw full-frontal confrontation from education and civic groups," said the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union.
Kong was elected on Wednesday over another candidate nominated by 15 teachers' groups, including the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union. Responses from ordinary teachers and parents were, by contrast, positive. "I actually agree with (Kong's) proposal, as it is extremely vague when your child is evaluated just with descriptions because teachers tend to tone down their opinions, making it very hard for the parents to understand precisely how their kids are doing (in schools)," said Lee Jong-mi, 35, mother of a second-grade son.
"Giving subjective descriptions in evaluating a child could easily turn emotional, not to mention it being almost impossible for the teacher to be fully attentive for a class with at least 50 children," she said.
Such a system should be introduced when the educational environment improves, she added. A teacher in charge of a second-grade class at the Demonstration Elementary School of College of Education, Chung Ang University, agreed. "It is inept to assess a child by describing how the child is with words without giving leveled-out scores," said Ahn Byeong-duk. Ahn explained that parents found it hard to check specifically how their children were faring in schools and thus provide appropriate help. Some other teachers suggested wider autonomy to schools to decide on their own how to assess students.
The Education Ministry said it would look further into the system should the protests increase but added that it was unlikely the regulation would be changed.
Question
1. Do you agree to the new superintendent's proposal?
2. Do you have any special memory about old score system?
(for example, delete low score and change it more higher...)
3. What will be a side effect returning to old score system?
이 글은「대학연합영어토론동아리」www.pioneerclub.com에서 제공하는 영어토론 정보입니다.
댓글목록
등록된 댓글이 없습니다.