Odd Bob Job
- 2016-07-20
FFT, your heart is in the right place. But your feet are in China.
Blimey that sounds a bit disorientating ; he or you must have been on that hothot cheap lager?
amused
- 2016-07-20
FFT, your heart is in the right place. But your feet are in China.
I don't 'choose to overlook' Western values; I recognize that I am in a country where individual performance and achievement are inconsequential when they impact institutional reputation.
My opinion about that is immaterial.
Former FT in China
- 2016-07-20
You sound laughingly green but with a new soul across the South China Sea.
I suggested to the FAO that I could assist the two highest-scoring students during the summer vacation free. Those students prepared at college during the summer vacation instead of returning to their hometowns. The FAO told me that would be a waste of time. Laughing profusely, he said that the college's students were all the sons and daughters of farmers, and therefore had no chance, as Yuncheng, Taiyuan and Datong colleges had more promising students. However, the Dean gave me the go-ahead. That summer, things had been changed in that Linfen teachers would visit each college to invigilate at the end of the summer, and any student who wished to take part in the exam could do so. Of course, there was a fee for entry
Of course, just like 'amused', you chose to overlook the fact that in a competitive exam, conducted simultaneously in 6 provincial teacher-training colleges by the university's teachers, the 12 chosen college students to go to said university as sophomores to continue their studies for a university degree as opposed to a college diploma were NOT all in positions 1 - 12 in that exam.
How would YOU feel if you were 5th or 11th in that exam in your homeland and lost out to students with lower marks from other colleges?
Former FT in China
- 2016-07-19
In the provincial English competitions the judges, representing all the universities, seemed to 'divy up' the winners in relation to the universities' ranking, rather than the relative merit of the contestants.
Consensus trumps individual achievement.
You're at it again, fudging the issue, and blowing your trumpet! [edited]
Sharp
- 2016-07-19
You sound laughingly green but with a new soul across the South China Sea.
I suggested to the FAO that I could assist the two highest-scoring students during the summer vacation free. Those students prepared at college during the summer vacation instead of returning to their hometowns. The FAO told me that would be a waste of time. Laughing profusely, he said that the college's students were all the sons and daughters of farmers, and therefore had no chance, as Yuncheng, Taiyuan and Datong colleges had more promising students. However, the Dean gave me the go-ahead. That summer, things had been changed in that Linfen teachers would visit each college to invigilate at the end of the summer, and any student who wished to take part in the exam could do so. Of course, there was a fee for entry
amused
- 2016-07-19
Interesting post.
The hierarchy of colleges/university in a region is a matter of almost universal agreement. I was at a meeting of all the universities in one province at a dinner given by the director of the province's education department. As a joke, I asked him which colleges were best. To my surprise everyone nodded in agreement as he listed the rank of the universities. Imagine all the universities in Boston agreeing on their relative ranks.
In the provincial English competitions the judges, representing all the universities, seemed to 'divy up' the winners in relation to the universities' ranking, rather than the relative merit of the contestants.
Consensus trumps individual achievement.
I taught at a Taiyuan satellite city state-run teacher-training college for 2 years. Taiyuan also had a teacher-training college similar to mine.
Its function was to produce junior high school teachers. It was a 2-year college. Freshers took part in a competitive exam against those from the province's other such colleges, 6 in all, to allow the best 6 students to switch to Linfen Teacher-Training University. Said 4 year educational establishment was one of a pair, the other being located in Taiyuan. Both those universities were providers of senior high school teachers.
My college had been unsuccessful in the exam for years and years despite sending a pair of students to Linfen to participate in the exam each year.
I suggested to the FAO that I could assist the two highest-scoring students during the summer vacation free. Those students prepared at college during the summer vacation instead of returning to their hometowns. The FAO told me that would be a waste of time. Laughing profusely, he said that the college's students were all the sons and daughters of farmers, and therefore had no chance, as Yuncheng, Taiyuan and Datong colleges had more promising students. However, the Dean gave me the go-ahead. That summer, things had been changed in that Linfen teachers would visit each college to invigilate at the end of the summer, and any student who wished to take part in the exam could do so. Of course, there was a fee for entry.
When the results came out, my best was 1st, my next best was 3rd, and my third-best was 5th. Another of my students was 11th. However, the rules had been changed. The top two students from each college would be accepted. That was a real kick in the teeth for two of my students. Their parents visited the Taiyuan Education Bureau to appeal, but that was useless. I was very angry at the time. Students from other colleges with scores of 73 were accepted, while my two rejected students had scored 81 and 76. Definitely smelt bad!!