Trophy Case

Let’s talk school. In the past week or so I’ve experienced some situations that I think are unique to China and to this day I still can’t really get my mind around it.

                I gave my seniors their first AP Biology test. It was unit one and the information was not necessarily ultra difficult or that new to them. After grading the majority of the tests (apparently people like to disappear on test day and are currently still making up exams), I was appalled to see that half of my students failed (six out of the twelve that took it). Considering these students had to test into this special “AP” class within the school and considering the “dumbest” kid scored in the top 80^th percentile on the SAT, the failing rate on my measly bio exam seemed a bit high. There are obviously a few reasons why this could be so. One could be that the students don’t care. Now, why would they not care when obviously their GPA’s matter for college applications AND the information I’m testing them on will be on their AP exams in May. I’m not just giving a test for no reason. I’m trying to help them learn the information slowly over the course of the year so they will be prepared when the time comes. Trust me, no teacher spends the time to make an exam just to be mean. I spent my time looking for old exams that have been released and going through them to find old AP question applicable to our unit to insert into the unit test so my exam would be close to the AP exam. I tried! I really did! And what I get is half the class failing.

                 Two, when I asked the student who received the highest grade (B+) what he thought about the exam, he responded that he wished he had more time. Hmmm ok. Let’s think about this one. For the past two or three weeks we (the teachers) have been specifically told by the office not to give homework (that is a whole different story), which I can personally say at least 2 of the 3 AP teachers (Brandon and me) complied. Additionally, the seniors have at least four to five “study halls” every day. So with that much time to study and no homework, how the heck can this boy tell me he wished he had more time! This just leads me to believe that they don’t care about their grades, because if they did, they would have used one of their four study halls a day to study for the unit test! So this just takes me back to my first point, they don’t care. Why? After living here in China for a few months now, I can get a sense that the school “takes care” of the student’s grades if you know what I mean. I was just yesterday asked into the AP office to help one of the teachers answer some questions about weighted and unweighted GPA and weighted and unweighted class rank. She was filling out the Common Application that some schools use now a days. The entire school has about 850 seniors, 15 of which are in the school’s special “AP” program and 15 of which are actually applying to American Universities. I also have to point out that the “AP” Office does not work hand in hand with the main office. Aka they report their students information separately. If I had to guess right now where those 15 students will fall in the class rank…. Well I’m sure you guys can figure out what I’m saying.

                As for when the students will actually take the time to study and learn the information needed for the AP Biology exam… well I can only guess. I have a feeling that a month before the AP exam, my classes will be cancelled for no apparent reason, and the kids will sit and memorize the entire Princeton AP Review book for every AP subject exam they are taking. In other words, they will sit and memorize (not learn) an entire year long curriculum in one month and get 5s on the exams. So why am I here? If they don’t care to learn now because they need to focus on the one thing that can’t be faked or fixed for them (their college personal statements) and if they don’t need me later when they are cramming on their own, then why do they need me at all? Answer: trophy.

                On a separate topic, I show up to my AP Psychology class Saturday morning ready to give them their unit test, to find that only 4 of my 15 students are in class. Earlier in the week I had asked them if they wanted one class to take the test (Friday’s we only meet once) or two (Saturday we meet for two periods back to back). Everyone responded with two. Ok so I go and schedule the test for Saturday and made Friday a review day. This all went down on Tuesday. So basically, between Tuesday and Saturday, not a single one of my students bothered to tell me that they will not be in class on Saturday. The office did not inform me either. When I walked into my nearly empty class room on Saturday, I just about had a hissy fit! I was not going to give a test to four students in Psychology, nor was I going to continue teaching in Biology next period to those same four students! I ended up editing one personal statement and walking out of the class.

                Communication about attendance with teachers here is not considered mandatory I guess. And due to the fact that the office probably had no idea how many students were in class and that I just walked out of the classroom and left the kids alone, I’m guessing the school doesn’t have any liability issues or any regard for knowing who is in their school and when. I’m sure the school and the students don’t think this, but I think it has to do with respect. Because they cancel our classes last minute and don’t show up to meetings last minute and do other things to push us around AND on top of it, I get a class of four students…. This just confirms to me, again, that no one cares what I do…I am in fact just a trophy but a damn good trophy at that.