Grades and Culture

I finished all of my grading yesterday. It was one of those crazy, crazy days. I was giving exams in the morning, attending meetings in the afternoon, and marking and inputting grades late into the night. But I'm finally done! We have to enter grades and attendance for each student individually, and by the end of the night, the online portal system was noticeably slower. I wonder if everyone was trying to get their grades entered last night?

It was a strange experience, actually entering the grades. I teach in the general education department, and my classes are required for graduation. The university has a policy that anything below a B- means you don't pass the class. If you miss more than 7 classes in the course of the semester, the computer will automatically fail you. My section of the department is also relatively new. We just finished our third year of existence. In the beginning of the program, lots of students were failed because they didn't come to class and didn't do any work. There are about 600 seniors who are going to graduate next year who still need their English credits. As you can imagine, this is causing lots of problems for the administration. So we were basically told to pass as many students as possible.

This is definitely a time when it is hard to know what to do with cultural differences. Where do you draw the lines between objective right and wrong, and differences in culture? Some things are part of Korean culture, but I would never, ever do them in an American context. Perhaps the most blatantly obvious thing in this category is bowing. In America, you just don't bow to people. It is generally considered a sign of subservience, and American culture doesn't really have a place for that. The only time I ever bowed in America was when I was on a stage and had just finished a performance. In Korea, you bow to say hello, goodbye, thank you, respect, friendliness, etc. I bow lots and lots of times every day, because it's just what you do.

In America, if a student missed a large number of classes with no reason, sat in the back corner of the classroom and never even made eye contact, missed quizzes, only completed 20% of the assigned homework and only managed to earn a 60% in the class, they would fail. They could try to appeal their grade, but it would be pretty clear to everyone involved that this student didn't deserve to pass this course. In Korea, at least in my department (I won't venture to speak for the entire higher education system), because that student basically went through the motions, because it will cause administrative difficulties to fail her, and because it makes the department and university lose face to have too many students fail, there is pressure to pass this student. In this particular class, you have to get a B- to pass.

I struggled with this. To me, it seems flat out wrong to pass this student. It isn't fair to the students who actually did the assigned work and earned a B- on their own merit. It isn't fair to future employers who look at her transcript and make assumptions about her study habits and English proficiency based on her grade. I even think it's not fair to the student. Yes, she passes the class and feels relief that she doesn't have to re-take it. But it is also sending the message that working hard and learning isn't the primary goal. The primary goal is just making sure that nobody's feathers get ruffled and harmony is maintained.

Maybe that is the primary goal. One of the aspects of Korea that has been the hardest for me to understand is the whole saving face and maintaining harmony thing. But if I was brought halfway around the world to expose students to other cultures and ideas, should I adapt my grading to a Confucian scale? I believe that there is a right and wrong that transcends culture, but I don't know if this kind of thing fits into that category. This is one of the harder things about living in Korea. I don't fully understand the hidden cultural values that Koreans operate under, and I don't know when I should "forget" my Americanness and when I should stick to it.

I suppose that marking papers gets rather monotonous after awhile, so I could be thankful for the chance to ponder something a little more philosophical than multiple choice exams and missing articles. But really, it just frustrated me. Because I don't know how to navigate this situation. And I know this isn't going to be the last time something like this happens.

For now, all of the grades are in. I passed my student, even though it made me kinda angry to do so. And I guess I'll continue to ponder what exactly culture is, and when it should apply and when it should give way.