Grade Curves Suck!

There is one aspect of my job that I hate: grading with a curve. At CNU, any Freshman English teacher with a class numbering more than 14 students is required to grade the students on a curve. This, of course, means that only a certain number of students can get an "A"; a certain number of students can get a "B"; the rest have to get a "C' or less. This sucks.

I received an email from a student who had taken my class before and failed. This time around she worked extremely hard and finished with a 93% grade out of 100. Anywhere else in the world that's an "A". Not here. Because I had only 19 students in the class, I was allowed to give only 5 of them an "A". This poor girl is one of several "curve victims" this semester. She is getting a "B+", but she deserves better.

There are a number of things that bother me about the grade curve here. First, is the fact that it seems that our department is the only one that has to use the curve (The expats that teach the English majors don't have to use the curve, nor do the other major departments). The second reason is that the curve is simply unfair.

Some of my freshmen classes fit neatly into the curve because there are enough students that don't study or participate, and therefore have grades that suffer. However, some classes just rock. They are a teachers wet dream. All the students attend regularly, they are active in class and try hard. Those are fun classes to teach. The grade curve means that students who really put an effort into the class are not guaranteed the grade that they worked for.

I wrote in an earlier post about students who try to skate by and then expect a good grade. I don't help the apathetic. I demand students participate in my class. If a student asks a question (you have no idea how hard it is to get Korean students to speak out in class), they are going to get a better grade because they participated. They showed a certain degree of confidence. Here in Korea, confidence is at a premium. Those students that show initiative and a willingness to go against cultural norms deserve to be awarded.

My student, An Da Youn, deserves an "A" simply based on her improvement from last semester. She worked her ass off this semester. She gets screwed because there were 5 students who were as active but had better English skills than she did. Participation is the key to doing well in my class. You have to make an effort or you're going to fail. GPA is vitally important in Korea. An Da Youn deserves an "A". She might get screwed academically because I had to give her a "B". The curve fucks everything up. It's simply unfair.