Eng teachers and tutors are holding us back (1 Viewer)

[Daedalus]

Dont you think our eng teachers and tutors are holding us back? They try to make us come up with our own points that we can put in essays, when it is more economical (mark wise) to give us points, let us memorise them so we can reproduce AWESOME qua essays

i can understand teachers not doing this cause they are controlled by the totalitarian board of studies... but tutors do the same as well!!! since we are paying like $40/hour they should try to improve our marks, rather than teach us english

 

[Jinglebell]

just a thought: the difference between a good mark and an excellent mark can often be the originality of the points you make. If everyone regurgitates the same points given by teachers, then the markers aren't gonna find anything outstanding. if you have your own original angle, then you have an edge over the competition.

and really, what's the point of writing an essay your teacher has already told you? you may as well just have them sit the exam for you!

 

[Daedalus]

ok granted. SUPERB students have their own pov and works

BUT, since i am moderate at best, if i emulate a good students my marks WILL improve

no matter how hard i try i cant improve my skills fast enough (if they improve at all). believe me, i have tried. with only 2 units this year and attending school only 3 non-full days/week and having eng tutoring once or twice/week i have dont aLOT of eng work. AT LEAST 1 hour /day since the start of school

and the best i've done in an essay is 16 in our half yearly, and that is for change , which is the easiest topic in eng. the lowest i got is 13 which is for donne. My tutor says my main problem is not my ideas, but the way i phrase them. he says im often 'non precise'. On a computer i can do better (i got 18 for a speech) but when in an exam i have to write. Therefore, it is much easier for me to memorise blocks of text whcih i can copy from my mind and paste onto paper, with linking sentences to make the essay cohesive

why do u think the BOS dont release to the public their cds with exam responses??? cause they want ppl like to to stuff up.

 

[Daedalus]

in summary

I cant learn English in time, so I have to beat the system

 

[Minai]

how?
60,000 other students go thru the same thing, so its not like u are alone in this..
and if teacher gave u everything u needed and for u to memorise them, what's the point in learning? They are not holding u back, they are actually helping you develop critical understanding - If they spoonfed u, u wouldnt develop these skills, and in that sense, they;d be holding u back

 

[Daedalus]

maybe teachers have to do this

BUT

tutors should try maximise your marks

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

my teachers and tutors tell me what to write... ^.^

nah, we go thru stuf first, then i get to write a lil bit... and then my teacher will say; no, you need to write this this this and this and leave out this this and this.... they're my points, but i just get told how to edit it and stuf.. isn't that what's supposed to happen? maybe i'm jus lucky... =)

 

[robertdapice]

I think you're missing the point.

It's unfortunate that the English syllabus encourages memorising like this...

 

[Daedalus]

Originally posted by +:: $i[Q]u3 ::+
my teachers and tutors tell me what to write... ^.^

nah, we go thru stuf first, then i get to write a lil bit... and then my teacher will say; no, you need to write this this this and this and leave out this this and this.... they're my points, but i just get told how to edit it and stuf.. isn't that what's supposed to happen? maybe i'm jus lucky... =)

cool, i wish i had your teachers

and rob, not everyone has good abilities in eng. Since its mandatory ppl like myself needs to adapt, or get a shit uai

not to say eng shoulndt be mandatory, i reckon it should, but it just shouldnt count towards the uai if u dont want to. They could just say to be eligible for a UAI u need a certain mark in eng to make ppl try, but it should stuff ppl up

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

rob's right.. unfortunately the english syllabus is such that we can virtually predict the question for most of the essays, so a memorised 'standard' can be put to use almost 100% of the time... the only time we actually get 'tested' on our english ability is that bit in 'change' with the unseens.. it puts you a bit more on the spot with others...

so like a crap student who memorieses a fantastic essay does better than a good student who relies on his/her own ability..

it sucks, but they say the board of studies is at an intellectual low... ^^

 

[Daedalus]

Originally posted by +:: $i[Q]u3 ::+
rob's right.. unfortunately the english syllabus is such that we can virtually predict the question for most of the essays, so a memorised 'standard' can be put to use almost 100% of the time... the only time we actually get 'tested' on our english ability is that bit in 'change' with the unseens.. it puts you a bit more on the spot with others...

so like a crap student who memorieses a fantastic essay does better than a good student who relies on his/her own ability..

it sucks, but they say the board of studies is at an intellectual low... ^^

firstly, whether a student is 'crap' or not is subjective. It depends on which aspects u are comparing him/her to

if this so called crap student beats the so called 'good' one, which is better???? ok, whether u judge him to be crap or not, u have to admit he is better at the 2Unit Adv Eng

but if i dont have a fantastic essay to memorise then my marks remain low. that is why i need good essays to work from

 

[robertdapice]

+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+ (if that is your real name...) - I agree with you. I think you're missing the point again Daedalus.

The large picture is that the English syllabus is retarded. The rationale behind it being mandatory is that people were getting 100 in their UAI, then doing medicine and not being able to speak.

However, a more rational rationale (oh, me.) would be to contain some sort of fluency and expression examination. Being able to write an essay is not only a fluency test. Writing a radio interview with two contrasting characters that are arguing over a particular theme from the concept 'In The Wild', whilst incorporating Blade Runner and Brave New World, and juggling several medium-sized coconuts - this is not an ability that I believe is necassary in order to articulate one's self.

So, in summary, english = poopoo.

Am I right?

 

[Daedalus]

well as u said the eng course is poopoo so i need to BEAT IT

y is that so hard to understand

they did it not just to stop ppl doing high courses whom cant speak. If they wanted to do that they could just make it a everyone ahs to score a minimum in eng b4 getting a uai, but a lower eng mark wont affect it

the eng course's primary function is propaganda. Think about it, if eng isnt mandatory will old stuff like Shakespeare and Bladerunner be valued at all??? they make us spend so much time studying these things that the weaker minded ppl, even if they hated it b4 will say they like it to justify the amount of time they spent on it

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

really.. u can't do anything but beat it, given our position, really...

if an english teacher's only aim was to get their students good marks, all they'd do is give their students one really fantastic essay, and get them to memorise it over the next 8 weeks or so.

most teachers believe there's a bit more to english than that.

unfortunately, the board of studies isn't going to test us on anything else, anything really worth.. well.. anything as far as english is concerned, which is why daedalus is in such a dilemma... am i right?

 

[tash]

in my case the problem is that the teachers don't teach us anything and then when we get our essays or whatever back they give u a crappy mark and write ridiculous comments on them (such as 'ur handwriting is 2 hard 2 read', when theirs is impossible 2 so u can't even read that comment!) ,that don't help at all.
u would think that if they want us 2 improve then they would tell us how 2. how can we when we don't know what we did wrong i ask u???

 

[Daedalus]

more generic comments are:

be more precise
more on context
interesting argument, you are writing quite well (then mark is like 16)

+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+: yeah you are kinda right. given a choice i wouldnt do eng, but since i have to i will try maximise my uai.