방학식

Today is the last day of the first semester, which means I'm just hours away from starting my vacation. I got my second semester material all ready, so I was planning on just vegging in front of the computer without a worry...until a student's father came into the office with his son's report card. The student had gotten A's in every single subject except for English with an 89.4% B, and my writing assessment grade was responsible for that. So, naturally, the father wanted to speak with me, the Native English teacher who isn't supposed to speak Korean, let alone to students' parents.

I had pretty much damaged the student's chances of getting into a foreign language high school, so he was wondering if I could be 'understanding enough' to change the grade. He's doing all of this AFTER the test correction period and AFTER the final report card grades have been sent out. So basically, the father was in no position to ask for such a change, to me, on the last day of the semester. But my heart goes out to him anyway even though I wouldn't have been able to change anything even if I had decided to.

I'll never forget the worst psychology class I ever took in college called Research Methods. The class was insanely boring and the professor was unusually strict. He made it clear on the first day of class that anything under a 90.0% would be a B. Even an 89.99% would be a B. Straight up. And of course, I had fallen victim to that hypothetical situation with an 89.6%, but I knew better than to ask for a higher grade. The rules were rules, and the professor was an a-hole for making those rules. So yeah, I feel for that student and his father, but he can't always have daddy talk to the big bad teacher for him.

I wonder how many students have written about me in their blogs.

The vice-principal has officially dismissed us! Vacation starts NOW.

Thought of the Day: Grades
Song of the Day: Xzibit-What You See Is What You Get