Are exams really hard for students in Asia? Yep. The best example I can think of regarding the Chinese exams for the gao kao is the bar exam for lawyers in the U.S. You have to cram all these facts into your brain that you learned over a period of 3-4 years, remember all the details and then spit them out onto an exam paper, after studying for 2 months.
Now any lawyer worth their salt will tell you that the bar exam is a joke because after all that misery, most bar exams only test those people who can memorize the most. This is now changing with the addition of MPT which is something you cannot study for but have to write a memo on the bar exam based on materials given to you. You have to read a “library” which is 10-15 pages long and then you have 45 minutes to give your best lawyerly answer.
My frustration teaching at a Chinese university is that some of the students are amazing and they are not going to get the credit for being a great student because the education system assumes that the school ranking is the most important factor. We all know that for the most part everyone needs to memorize the basic information and then be able to apply it. However, nobody who has ever excelled in the business, education, and/or any field has succeeded purely in route memorization – so why are we making college students memorize and regurgitate?
Basically, the need for these top 10 exam rituals while interesting, would be unnecessary if the exams were less like the traditional aspects of the bar exam and more like the MPT.
Top 10 exam rituals from stressed students across Asia – http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35614030
An additional frustration regarding teaching at the college level in China is the rampant amount of cheating and the lack of consequences. We have students that go to their professors, assistant deans, and deans to ask for grade changes for a variety of reasons including the following:
- My boyfriend/.girlfriend dumped me so I decided to mope in my room for an entire semester. I missed all my classes.
- I never went to class but can I at least be passed? My parents would be mad at me if I failed.
- I never went to class because I was drunk. Your class is always the day after my friends and I party.
- I stopped going to class because your class is so hard.
- My friends decided not to go to class so I decided not to go too.
Now I have only had excuse number 4 but when the other foreign professors get together and share our past experiences, generally the reasons we here are the five listed above.
Now why do I claim that the above excuses lead to cheating? There are some professors who actually change their students grades based on the reasons above. If their parents are wealthy or connected the chances of this occurring is really high closer to “beyond a reasonable doubt” than “”beyond a preponderance.”
I make my exams so that you cannot just buy a watch and cheat using them but dear lord – I am surprised that my university is not full of these watches right about now. If you have students who never come to class and getting “A”s on their finals after going to whine to whoever they need to whine to and actually get the grade change, no wonder we are promoting bad behavior.
‘Cheating watches’ warning for exams – http://www.bbc.com/news/education-35716523
I use to think that the stories regarding the extreme lengths that people go to cheating in China were exaggerated. However, after being here for two semesters, I am ready to go home. Not only do I have arguments with previous students who feel that their grades were too low – I failed people for photocopying a friends homework and writing their names on it – I also have to deal with professors who “feel sorry for the students,” and agree to change the grades.
The problem with changing the grades is that you are rewarding bad behavior and encouraging others to be slackers which then punishes the good students.
Current Mood: Realizing that I am not going to be able to change the university setting in China without first going home, regrouping, and rethinking the strategy. Maybe I need to just create a high-end boarding school with a multi-cultural and multi-faceted curriculum. Currently, trying to combine life skills, lawyering skills, and basic materials in my torts class. Seems to be more successful this term. Still a work in progress…