For an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) test, a colleague urges his students into the classroom 7 minutes before the test. He then distributes the listening test questions 6 minutes before the test.  Yes, students need time to write their names and student numbers on the test, but 6 minutes? When the test begins, the students now have an additional 2 minutes to read the test questions.  These students thus read the test questions for 8 minutes. For teachers who follow the rules, their students read the test questions for 2 minutes.

For another listening test, rather than play the recording twice, the teacher gave his students the opportunity to listen four times.

Then there are the teachers who allow their students to talk in their local language during a test, giving answers.

Then there are the test-makers. One teacher had the answer choices for fill-in-the-blanks in order in which they answered the questions. I now put all my choices in alphabetical order.

Then there are the test graders. A college colleague in the USA once said one teacher he knew simply threw composition papers onto a set of stairs and marked them that way. I thought this was a joke. Years later, I wondered if it were the truth. Once I read the ‘D’ master thesis of an acquaintance.  The paper was poorly written, but worse was the teacher-advisor. That person had neglected to write suggestions, mark-ups, editing, questions, or given any kind of feedback whatsoever to help the student improve her logic and writing.

Then there are the teachers who teach the test in class. Or the teachers who actually give the writing question in class, and give the students a ‘guided writing’ exercise to ‘help’ them. Such an exercise may have sentences, main ideas, etc. but with 10-20% missing words that are applicable for the individual student.

In Saudi Arabia, a medical teacher told me an Indian colleague said he could teach anything: all he did was write the textbook onto the chalkboard and have the students copy it. My friend was desperately trying to prevent that teacher from begin given a practical: a class in which students must apply their learning to live patients.

Then there are the administrators who pass multitudes of students so their schools will have higher pass rates than others.

I earned my BA from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, one of America’s Top Ten Public Universities. Money was abundant here, mostly because of its engineering department and funds being funneled into its psychology department from inquiring businesses wanting to know how consumers’ minds worked. Many departments were stronger than at other places of Higher Learning. However, one department was at the bottom of the list at U of I, and, as I later learned, at most colleges and universities: education. Most students were women, and women eager for their MRS degree. Yes, their intellectual capabilities were astoundingly miniscule for a future teacher, but right-on for a woman bagging a high-paying husband meal ticket.

Working within a foreign college system in which tests are made by all the teachers, even taking valium could not lessen my disgust, frustration, and growing anger at colleagues. Test questions were aimed, like US politics, at the lowest common denominator.  On the other hand, some non-native teachers wanted to be clever and gave impossible to answer questions.

When grading exams, often two teachers are assigned, especially for the writing. My partner, a non-native speaker, had neglected to read the test. When grading the writing section, he gave high marks. I pointed out to him that some students had simply copied whole sentences from the reading and put them haphazardly into their own writing. This teacher was also renowned for giving stupendously high grades during speaking tests.

Of course, every school around the world has at least one, maybe two, maybe many more, who simply give high marks so the students will love them and, in turn, give them high evaluation marks and the teachers will be guaranteed their jobs. A fellow American teacher in Korea periodically took her students to the nearby ice cream parlor to keep her popularity up. Lucky for her, classes held 15 or less students.

Then to continue my shock, I discovered one of the most disgusting liabilities for ALL teaching programs: teachers in schools who mentor student-teachers. At my school, one teacher simply disappeared. It was his student-teacher vacation. My teacher and I argued over when students should write an outline for their essays. I said they should have a choice: before the drafts, or after the first draft. She insisted on before. That system had been imposed upon me in college and hampered my writing: How in the world could I possibly know the conclusion of my thoughts before I wrote and thought them? My mentor simply lied when she reported the disagreement to my education professor. 

Oh no!  That’s too American a solution! Too bad America now creates problems when they used to solve them.