100% - The Perfect Score! - A+

(La version francaise se trouve ICI)


*This week I won`t be talking specifically about my work with the JET Programme. Although, the matter of subjectivity with perfect scores was not really an issue when I was teaching science. Now that I teach English, I need to deal with that sneaky lady: subjectivity.*

Is a perfect score something that we should give out often, once in a while or never at all? Of course, if it’s a math or science test with multiple choice answers and the student gets them all right, then, obviously, he gets a perfect score. But I mean when there is any hint of subjectivity in the evaluation; is it ok to give a perfect score for something that exceeds our expectations?

I guess we need to start by wondering why we evaluate. Is it to give a constructive retroaction to the student in a way that helps him learn more and get better with time? Is it so we can measure his performance and compare it with those of the other students in his class, his school, his province (prefecture, state), his country… his planet? Is it to give his parents a feedback on how he is doing at school? Is it to give universities a measurement of the student’s value and his abilities to perform in a specific undergraduate programme? Is it to give everyone a sense that something as been learned and to say: “See!? We didn’t only waste time in the last month. I made a measurement of the learning done and translated it into a number (or a letter)”.

Depending on where you work and on your personal perception of education, the truth might be any, some or all of them.

Let’s be a bit utopian and pretend that the evaluation’s purpose is to help the student progress by showing him his strong and week points and by motivating him to persevere. I think that giving a perfect score can be interpreted differently by different students:

Some might think that they’ve reached perfection.

-“Ha! Ha! Right! Perfection… pfft!”

After all it IS a “perfect score” so they might not work as hard next time, thinking that they already know all they will ever need to know.  (Actually, I would really be surprised that many students would think that way, especially A⁺ students …)

Some other students might see a perfect score as a well deserved reward for working very hard (it can be dangerous if the student actually DIDN’T work very hard and got a perfect score). It might give them a feeling that the world is just and hard work pays off in the long run (ideally, there should be a choir of angels singing at this moment).

But let’s not forget our good old friend; the Pygmalion effect. By perceiving the student as a great achiever, he (or she, as is often the case in more “subjective subjects” (by the way, school is structured in a way that facilitates the success of girls and most boys actually struggle in that environment… maybe I’ll elaborate more in another post))… sorry about that… So, as I was saying… uh, go check the Pygmalion effect on Wikipedia ( :p ).

I think giving a perfect score can be a good thing. If the student really deserves it of course. If perfect scores are handed out like candies, it just becomes a joke and the course looses credibility.

- “So. You ask. If a student does an amazing work and really stands above the other students in the class, he should get a perfect score but if he does the same work and 6 other students in his class do an equally amazing job, then none of them should get a perfect score?”

Uh… I guess I would answer; -“it depends”.

It depends on the class dynamic, the course itself, the age and maturity of the students, how incredible their work really is…

So here comes “subjectivity” once again: she’s never really clear, we need to interpret the signals. Even if there is technically no obvious right or wrong answer, we better choose the right one or she’ll get mad and bring it back every time she can.

I think a good way to keep “subjectivity” at a distance is to have very well defined objectives. It’s even better if the students understand clearly what is expected of them. That way, by becoming a bit more “analytical”, we should be able to give each student his deserved appreciation. After all, isn’t the world supposed to be explained by elegant equations eventually? (For more theoretical physics...)

Without a clear syllabus, a course could become like a “wine appreciation” course where the only objective is to “learn (!) to appreciate wine”.

- “Here. What do you think of this wine?”

-“Oh! I really appreciate it!”

-“Good work. You get A⁺.”

What’s your interpretation of a “perfect score”? Do you ever give any?

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A little side note to finish: I remember that my art teacher in my first year of junior high school (secondary) said that she would never give a perfect score because a work of art can never be "perfect". It is simply too subjective. 

My sister had the same teacher when she began high school 6 years later and I`m pretty sure she got a couple of 100% scores from that same teacher.  I guess that "subjectivity" is almost synonym to "opinion", so it is not surprising that people change their way of thinking.

In her defense, my sister is truly a phenomenal artist. You can see some of her work HERE. 

Tokyo Orientation and Paying For It

(La version française se trouve ici)


Any foreigner in Tokyo needs a map or something to provide orientation. It is HUGE! Just go on google map and look at how far it expands. Imagine yourself walking in there and trying to find a specific street (by the way, to add to the foreigner’s confusion, they name the city blocs and not the streets in Japan). It seems too big to be functioning but somehow, it works out.

 I guess the same thing can be said about the JET Programme: With about 36 participating countries and over 4000 JETs in Japan, it is a huge programme.  If I was to try to provide a “map” of the programme, I would  need to include three ministries (The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)), the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) and the Contracting Organisations (the boards of education and the schools actually hiring us). I would also need to include all the foreign Japanese embassies that take part in the selection process and the preparation of the new JETs.

I won’t go into the details of the roles of each one of these organisations but I think you get the picture: It’s kind of a big deal.

We could feel it at the 3 days orientation seminar at a luxury hotel in downtown Tokyo (is there anywhere in Tokyo that is “not” downtown?). Whether they wanted it or not, at some point, everybody wondered how much money was involved in all of this (the free flights, the seminars, the luxury hotel, the transportation, our salaries and, as we would find later; the things provided by our contracting organisations: for some people it might include a car, a house (!), furniture…)

View from the room

What I’m getting at is that JET is a publicly financed programme.  If I’m not mistaken, the Japanese economy, like many others, is not doing so good (I actually stumbled upon an article of the New-York Times today about that). A lot of people are looking at ways to cut down the expenses and the JET Programme is one of their target. About a month ago, I read a very interesting article from Debito Arudou about the situation of the JET Programme and why it is not meeting the expectations.

If I grossly oversimplify that article; it says that the programme costs a lot of money and that Japanese students are still not learning English. But it’s not the JETs fault, it’s the Japanese education system’s fault.

Ok… so if we can’t teach English to the students, what are we doing exactly? Why are we here? Why are they still spending so much money on this thing?

Well, the official purpose of the JET Programme (as stated in many of their official documents) is to : “Promote internationalisation and mutual understanding through foreign language education and local international exchange activities.”

Even before I left Canada, I’ve been told that a way to see the job was as a “cultural ambassador”. So, is this a way to justify everything or does it actually means something and has a real application? -(By the way, if you ask a question with “or” in it to a Japanese person, they’ll answer by yes or no! More on this in another blog post about language).-

I think the term “cultural ambassador” does mean something and that our presence here is not pointless: When I was teaching sciences in Canada, I realised that 95% (if not more) of what I teach will be forgotten by most of the students a year later. (How much do YOU remember from your high school science classes?) So why should we keep trying to put these facts and equations into their heads?

The point is not for them to become proficient scientists while they are in high school. The point is for them to know that these things exist and become curious about the world around them. We want to ignite some passions and get them interested (which means that the way we teach is very important). If they have that curiosity, they will pursue their learning fuelled by their own motivation and will make career choices accordingly. Anyways, the introductory classes in most college and university science programs tend to teach all the basics again to make sure everyone is at the same level.

So the point is to get the Japanese students interested and curious about foreign cultures. English is a mean to do that. If they have the spark and decide to travel abroad after high school, they will figure out a way to have functional English.

That being said, I think there are ways for us to be more than "promoters for holiday destinations" while in front of the class.

More on that later…

Purpose

(La version française de cet article se trouve ici)

I've been given an amazing opportunity to learn more about pedagogy, internationalization,language, cultural identity, different school systems, curriculums and myself (!) with a job that involves teaching English to Japanese high school students.

This blog's purpose is to share my observations with anyone who is interested in the aforementioned subjects and, hopefully, get your take on them. I'd like input from other JETs that are doing similar (or completely different) observations and from people back in Canada who want to discuss the similarities and differences of the school systems and cultures.
Please, don't hesitate to leave comments and give your point of view so we have a discussion going.

I also plan, in the next week, to do the same blog in French. I think I'll sometimes translate my posts from English to French and sometimes it'll be the other way around. (Hopefully, some day, I can also do it in Japanese! Maybe next year.) I'm guessing the writing style should be quite different whether the original post was in English or a translation from French. In either case, I definitely won't win any Pulitzer.

I think it's time to get blogging. It's already October and I have yet to start writing about everything that happened since August when the JET journey began in Tokyo...