Subjective
As Jordan received an exam back, the teacher commented to him, "I think you finished your exam too quickly." He politely took his exam and said, "I don't think so." Little did he know that finishing his test too quickly, in the eyes of our professor, meant a lower score. Looking at his neighbor's test, he also noticed that, though their answers were the same, he had missed points and she had not. When he asked the teacher, she simply said, "Your answer was too short."
Grades in French schools are subjective.
Our friend and teammate, a former elementary school teacher, confirmed this.
"If your hair looks nice on the day of the exam, perhaps you will get a better score. Or maybe if you smile nicely at the professor," he said smiling. While he was slightly exaggerating, the more time we spend in the French school system, the more we see the truth in his statement.
Grades are subjective.
Just the other day we handed in a paper. After learning that anything over 10/20 is a good score, I was pleased with my 16/20 but asked the teacher why I only received a 2/4 on the oral comprehension. "The examples you gave were very general," she said. Confused, I asked her if I had misunderstood the assignment; I thought the purpose of the paper was to use a particular grammar lesson we'd learned last week, which I had used correctly. "No, but other students gave much more detail in their examples, so I can't give you a high score for comprehension," she responded. In other words, my example, in the 150 word text, while on topic for the assignment, was not as precise as other students in the class, and therefore, she had to take points off.
Subjective.
While we strive to do well in school, while we desire to learn the language well, I was recently reminded (through a great blog): The point, the aim [of language learning], is not fluency. The aim is to honor God, to be used by him, to become more like Jesus, to love well. Our teachers may give subjective grades, but we are not here for their glory, we are here for the glory of God.
Grades in French schools are subjective.
Our friend and teammate, a former elementary school teacher, confirmed this.
"If your hair looks nice on the day of the exam, perhaps you will get a better score. Or maybe if you smile nicely at the professor," he said smiling. While he was slightly exaggerating, the more time we spend in the French school system, the more we see the truth in his statement.
Grades are subjective.
Just the other day we handed in a paper. After learning that anything over 10/20 is a good score, I was pleased with my 16/20 but asked the teacher why I only received a 2/4 on the oral comprehension. "The examples you gave were very general," she said. Confused, I asked her if I had misunderstood the assignment; I thought the purpose of the paper was to use a particular grammar lesson we'd learned last week, which I had used correctly. "No, but other students gave much more detail in their examples, so I can't give you a high score for comprehension," she responded. In other words, my example, in the 150 word text, while on topic for the assignment, was not as precise as other students in the class, and therefore, she had to take points off.
Subjective.
While we strive to do well in school, while we desire to learn the language well, I was recently reminded (through a great blog): The point, the aim [of language learning], is not fluency. The aim is to honor God, to be used by him, to become more like Jesus, to love well. Our teachers may give subjective grades, but we are not here for their glory, we are here for the glory of God.
Thanks guys! It sounds pretty it should be pretty evident, but it's so easy to lose sight of. We needed the reminder!
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