Originally Posted by cendrillon:
The biggest issue here is the non-linearity of the grading. You get it 90% correct and only get 20% of the marks. That part is definitely insane. The teacher needs to be introduced to the 80/20 rule
As for the marking on the clocks, at first I thought this was pedantic too, but I think I understand the reasoning. The teacher wants half past 4 to point exactly half way between, a quarter to 7 to be after the half way line, and 10 minutes past 10 to be before the half way line. It doesn't have to be exact, just correct relative to the half way point.
So I think the reasoning of the teacher makes sense. I would say as a way of separating say A students from B students this seems reasonable, sort of like an advanced extra challenging section in an exam, provided the students were taught this in class.
I'm not trying to defend the HK school system here or the teacher, I'm just saying that the teacher's reasoning is internally consistent and not self-contradictory. Also you do need some way to distinguish A students from B students. If they didn't do this given the typical level in Hong Kong likely everyone would get an A.
In fact the more I think about this the more it makes sense to me. Every student that gets 100% on an exam has sort of been failed by the grading system as a feedback mechanism, because it hasn't presented a path for them to strive further, or to measure their progress past that point.
The proof of whether the marking system is working correctly is probably in the distribution. If grades are correctly distributed around B/C with the right percentages in each bucket then as a mechanism for feedback to the student the marking system is working, at least for the majority of the students that haven't saturated at A or F. Although with this huge non-linearity my guess is that the marking is pushing everyone together into the D bucket. I guess it's very egalitarian if nothing more.
Another very important thing here is how these grades are being interpreted by the students. If they're demotivating that's a bad thing, if they inspire the students to strive more and push their boundaries that's great.