Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Interesting Exam

"I don't know what you think. But I feel that student over there should be expelled from school because someone just walked past him and talked to him." One of the volunteer teachers asked me.

Yes, I know that it is exam now and the students are not supposed to talk to anyone. We (the volunteers from other countries) know that back home, we would be kicked out from school if we were caught cheating. But since we are here, we have to follow the culture here. I'm not sure about other schools, but it's seems that these under-privileged students do have some unspoken privileges. The ultimate objective of this School is to provide all students with a skill that they can use to earn a living when they leave the School. English to these students are not that important as most of them would probably return to their hometown to start a small business in electronics repair or programming. They may not use English at all once they return to their hometown as there will be no other person to speak to them in English. So, the School will NOT expel them so easily, I think. We, as the invigilators, could only try to stop them from cheating too much by taking away any pieces of paper that they hide somewhere; and also, ask them to stop talking to one another.

But I must qualify that it was only a handful of students who cheated during the exams..... Those weaker and cheeky ones (Note that it's a AND. I found that those who cheated fit both criteria). To my relief, there were genuinely obedient ones who tried their very best to complete the exams....... “There is a cat in the living room.”....... Nice try! But I asked for furniture (not animals) in the exam papers. One point for creativity and good effort. As I always tell my students: "Write something so that I can at least give you some marks."

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