Trying Doesn't Cut It For This Girl

What do you say to a student who sits in a remedial college class night after night, moaning that the work is too hard.

The girl tries but can't do more than copy the material from the board.  She is allowed to use a calculator but I have to remind her constantly to use it.

She sends me e-mails all the time about the class, letting me know she cares but she can't write a coherent sentence and I very often can't even understand what she is writing about.

She reminds me of the non-diploma bound special education kids I knew at Packemin.  Her IQ can't be much higher.  I wonder why she is sitting in a college class, wasting money and her time, frustrating the hell out of her.

The high school she went to probably encouraged her to attend college.  They probably got points added on to their evaluations because she has gone on to higher education.  Instead of points, they should be fined and punished for letting this girl believe she can have a future that involves academics.

Who's Monitoring The Teachers



Korean and Chinese teachers stood in the room while the students took the regents exam.  The exam was not given in either of these languages and the AP didn't want the kids to do poorly because of language. 

One of the exams was given in the native language but the AP decided the translation was misleading, so once again he had a teacher standing in the room explaining what was being asked.

Everyone in the department knew that these teachers did a lot more than translate.  They reworded the questions so their students would understand what was being asked.  Many native American speakers didn't understand the words either and could also have benefited from the translation (even English needs to be translated into words these kids can understand) but no one was permitted to answer their questions.  I remember the teacher asking for a good explanation of the word ishkabible (real word would give away the subject) for the students in her room, since there is no word for that in her language.  It is a word they had been taught, if the curriculum was followed.  Just as many native English speakers had trouble with that word too.

When the regents results were tabulated, the students in the rooms with the translators had either 100% or close to 100% passing, with most grades over 80.  Their results were significantly better than those who did not have this benefit.  No one could have monitored the translators without being fluent in the language they were speaking.  When the teacher went over to privately talk to the student, answers could have been given and no one would have been the wiser.

And now the state is raising standards and everyone is aiming for that 80 on a regents exam.  Teachers will be judged on their students exams.  No wonder the teachers of these non English speakers come out on top.

Unfair Advantage Or Just Plain Old Cheating

Is it considered cheating if a teacher goes into the room a regents is being given in and translates the exam for the students in the room?  Does translating mean explaining the questions?

Is it wrong for the AP to laud it over everyone else how the students in the rooms with translators did so much better than the students in the room without translators?

Or is this fine?  Does not knowing the Martian word for say, "isometry" mean that the translator can explain that word while the the students are taking an exam?  Weren't these kids taught the word "isometry" and then given the Martian translation?  How about the English speaking kids who didn't know what an isometry was? Shouldn't this have been explained to them to?  (How many readers had to click on the word to see what it meant?)

If this isn't cheating, shouldn't all students be given the same advantage?  Even English speaking kids might need a translator for certain words.  And, if it is cheating, it should be stopped.