The virtue of elitism in education
Jul. 1st, 2004 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zcat_abroadSome 31 (of 200) students having failed the writing exam, one of those who did not fail begged us to give the others a second chance. So we did. 15 passed, 2 never showed up, and 1 cheated. Afterwards, one of those who had failed twice came to see us, asking for yet another chance.
The resit was allowed because it was one of our friends who asked for it, and because she was not asking for herself. The second resit was declined, in part because it was a self-interested request and in part because I was seething about the cheater(*).
There was another factor, however, and I realised this when I was refusing the request. Some students must fail. This is simply because of the fact that the value of the final degree depends upon the difficulty of obtaining such a degree.
If anyone can do it, then nothing is proven by the mere fact that you have done it. The degree is worthless. In China, gaining admission to a university is extremely difficult. Passing the degree, on the other hand, is easy. This is why so many Chinese go to NZ et al. to go to university; they want degrees that people in other countries will care about.
(*): the cheater. They all look the same to us, right? Anyway, so thought one of those who failed the first test. We saw in the exam room someone we had never seen before, so we thought to compare handwriting samples with the first test. This guy's didn't match. When we talked to the head teacher of that class, we found out that the name actually belonged to a girl (some Chinese names are not gender-specific). The student was subsequently caught cheating in another exam and will be expelled. For some reason, that gives me a warm, tingly feeling.
The resit was allowed because it was one of our friends who asked for it, and because she was not asking for herself. The second resit was declined, in part because it was a self-interested request and in part because I was seething about the cheater(*).
There was another factor, however, and I realised this when I was refusing the request. Some students must fail. This is simply because of the fact that the value of the final degree depends upon the difficulty of obtaining such a degree.
If anyone can do it, then nothing is proven by the mere fact that you have done it. The degree is worthless. In China, gaining admission to a university is extremely difficult. Passing the degree, on the other hand, is easy. This is why so many Chinese go to NZ et al. to go to university; they want degrees that people in other countries will care about.
(*): the cheater. They all look the same to us, right? Anyway, so thought one of those who failed the first test. We saw in the exam room someone we had never seen before, so we thought to compare handwriting samples with the first test. This guy's didn't match. When we talked to the head teacher of that class, we found out that the name actually belonged to a girl (some Chinese names are not gender-specific). The student was subsequently caught cheating in another exam and will be expelled. For some reason, that gives me a warm, tingly feeling.
