Today had been a major blow to my patience. I came in today expecting to teach one class and give a midterm exam to my M 1.3 class. I then was told by my 5.3 students that they were ready for their midterm today too. And so the day began.
Now I have written about the issues with cheating before. My first week here I proctored a test for Pee Mam that ended with me slamming my hand on the desk to stop the constant chatter. And my first exam with 5.3 had 7 students accused of cheating by their peers--some were just chatting, others peeking at their neighbors' papers, and still others putting their heads on the desks only to look inside the desks at their notes. But I had come to expect, if not accept, this level of academic dishonesty.
Today was a different story. Now due to my past experiences with cheating I have gotten in the habit of making 2 versions of every exam. They are very similar--almost all of the questions are the same, just arranged in a different order. However, I don't tell my students that there are multiple versions. So about 20 minutes into the exam I see a girl talking to her neighbor. So I go over to see what's up. She looks at me for a moment, then points at get neighbor's exam and says something in Thai. I ask again what the problem is, and a word emerges... "different." She then repeats, explaining to me that her test us not the same as his.
Wow. No shit Sherlock, of course it's different. I know it's different, but you shouldn't know because you should only be looking at your own test! This is exactly why I make more than one version!
It was infuriating. Especially the way she said it...she was actually irritated with me for having multiple versions of the test. I didn't even know how to respond. So I told her that yes, there were in fact 2 tests, but that she shouldn't even know that because she should only be looking at her own paper. It took all my energy not to lose my composure. I did pull her aside after the test and have a "chat" with her. I asked why she was looking and said that if she ever did it again I would be speaking with her parents. She was very visibly shaken...I think I got the message through. (Yes, ideally she should have just failed, but remember the Thai no-fail policy. Also I have to re-test the entire class because the test was so difficult for them.)
Fast forward to the afternoon. I am supposed to meet my 5.3 class for their midterm, but I get a warning from a student as I walk in: check everybody's hands. Uggh, not something new! And how am I supposed to check everyone's hands quickly, without them being able to get rid of the evidence? So I end up getting their desks moved, papers put away, and then have them put their hands up in the air and keep them there until I check them. I search the class and come across a girl with ink smeared on her hand. "It's for mathematics!" she pleads. I look at her, disgusted, but with the ink smeared I can't do anything about her, but she can't use it to cheat on my exam either. I guess that will have to work. All other hands seem clean, so I let them take the test.
Now I don't know if I missed any others or if there was just the one girl (she is the one who scored 4/25 on the last exam), but it just adds to my mistrust. I spent the entire class period staring intently at my students taking their exams, periodically glaring at individuals who seemed to have overly wandering eyes. My next order of business is to buy a box of pencils for them to use for exams--as is the students all keep a pencil box on their desks. I am not waiting for a cheat-sheet to show up in one of these.
When I mentioned the hand trick to some of my fellow teachers, they laughed. They also said that I needed to check their thighs. "Have the girls lift up their skirts!" said one teacher, laughing. I was appalled--this seemed beyond inappropriate to me. But when I mentioned that, the teachers reassured me that it was totally normal in Thailand. If you think your students are cheating, have them lift their skirts, because they very well might have cheats written on their thighs. I don't know if I can do that, but thankfully my students were wearing their P.E. uniforms today--pants make this particular trick considerably more difficult.
So today was a challenging day. I just need to get used to the fact that people will always be trying to game the system, and I need to do my best to keep them from succeeding. But lifting my students' skirts? Well, we will have to cross that bridge when we get to it!
No comments:
Post a Comment