Common Test papers - comments

Pupils of 1E1 and 1E2,

I have finished marking your Common Test papers, and to be honest, I have to go sit down and rest for a while. While some of you managed to do quite well, to be frank, I am disappointed with the vast majority of you, who performed way below my hopes and expectations.

I may still be a new teacher, and I may not be the best teacher at that, but the kind of grades I am getting from you is to put it simply, ABSOLUTELY APPALLING.

For many of you, particularly those of you who scored 30 and above, I am thankful that you did put in your effort, and the results show that you have been diligent in your revision and self-study.

For those of you who scored between 20 and 30, I hope you can try harder the next time, especially for the End of Year exam.

However, I am extremely disappointed, and even pissed off with the bunch who scored below 20, with some even getting less than 10 marks. And it's not as if there's only a tiny handful of you miserable maggots out there; there's a total of 24 of you from both classes. And to be honest, many of the answers you gave, even for the questions which I provided during remedial sessions and which were repeated for the test itself, were simply

PURE UNADULTERATED CRAP.

After I finished marking all the papers and tabulating the grades, I ended up questioning myself. Have I done something wrong? Is this the best that my students can give? Did most of you even bother to study for this test at all?! Why should I devote so much time and energy into teaching when it appears to me that all the effort has gone to waste?

Why should I have to slog so hard, preparing worksheets, staying behind to conduct remedial lessons, when it seems that a significant proportion of you don't even care at all? I get people missing from my remedials, even though they are meant to be compulsory. I get people who attend but who are not the slightest bit interested in paying attention. I get pupils who say that they understand everything, only to stumble when it comes to the test paper, even when the exact same questions I gave during remedials appeared in the test.

The crap results are an indicator of a few things. First of all, your results reflect very badly on my aptitude and ability as a teacher, and on Mrs Chan as well, who taught you before I took over your classes. It goes to show that we have not been effective in ensuring that you have grasped the concepts of the chapters that we taught you. While we as teachers are not perfect, and do have our failings, I am sure that no one will dispute that we have been committed and dedicated to teaching your classes. Besides, the stellar results produced by many of your fellow classmates show that for at least some of you, our teaching methods have worked, and our aims and objectives have been fulfilled.

So, if it isn't a failing on the part of the teachers to ensure that the pupils grasp the fundamentals and concepts, where did it go wrong? I believe the answer will be all too apparent when you look in the mirror.

Producing this kind of results only goes to show that you do not take pride in your work, that you lack self-respect. There is a reason why we tell you to write your name on the test paper. When you fill in your name, you are taking ownership of the test paper. It is officially yours. This means that everything written inside, no matter how brilliant or abysmal, is exclusively your own handiwork.

Pride is an essential element in whatever you do, academic or otherwise. You should always be proud of your work. Continually striving for improvement, and aiming for perfection, are indicators that you take your work seriously, that you have what it takes to produce something that you can be proud of, and that you have pride in the finished product.

I'm sure that all of you have had moments when you were extremely proud of what you had accomplished. While none of us are perfect, I believe it is only fair that we strive to be proud of everything that we do. Don't be content with being mediocre. Challenge yourself to shine. And the first step towards shining is to learn to take pride in your work, and then take measures to ensure that you have what it takes to hand in a test or exam paper that you can be proud of (i.e. you actually have to put in the effort if you are to score well).

Look at your test result. How would you feel if I were to announce your score out loud in front of the entire school? Would you feel an immense sense of pride and satisfaction at a job well done? Or would you feel ashamed and embarrassed with yourself? Tell me, are you proud of what you have done for your test?

I have nothing more to say. I hope that the End of Year exams will not be so horrifying.