VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of students still can move up to the next grades even though they have bad learning records or have the grades below average.
Nguyen Huu Son, a parent in Thanh Chuong district in Nghe An province, said he feels sad because his daughter, a third grader, still cannot write the words with two syllables.
Nguyen Thi Le, Son’s daughter, born in 2005, a student of the Thanh Van Primary School, is a typical example of the “sitting in wrong classes” syndrome. She is a third grader, but her knowledge is worse than that of a first grader.
Son said that one day he asked the daughter to read the words on TV and surprisingly realized that she couldn’t read them. Son could not understand how his daughter was taught in class.
Son then came to see the leaders of the primary school asking them to allow his daughter to start learning from the very beginning. However, his proposal was refused.
Le’s school report showed that after finishing first and second grades, she could meet the requirements to continue learning at higher levels. And even though she still cannot read and write well, she still went on to the next grade every year.
As Son was refused by the school’s board of management, he has petitioned to the Thanh Chuong district’s education sub-department.
The sub-department, after some tests, found out that Le did not meet the requirements to be a third grader.
Meanwhile, Vo Ba Phuong, Headmaster of the Thanh Van Primary School, affirmed that Le was only allowed to go on to the next grade because her learning records were above average.
The Thanh Van Primary School, where Le goes to, is a national standard school. A school can only be recognized as a standard school if its number of weak students does not account for more than five percent of its total students.
This could be a reason why the school’s teachers tried to give students high marks and let them go on to the next grades despite their weak learning capability.
Thai Huy Vinh, Deputy Director of the Nghe An provincial Education and Training Department, affirmed that after considering the case thoroughly, the department would discipline the teachers involved in the case.
Vinh pointed out that the “achievement disease” is the reason behind the “sitting in wrong classes” syndrome. As schools try to gain high achievements to get commended and rewarded, they neglect the regulations and let incapable students move up to next grades every year.
Le Thi Huong, a history teacher of a well known school in Hanoi, noted that the students sitting in wrong classes can be found not only in the mountainous district, but also in Hanoi as well.
Huong said a lot of high school students don’t know when the August Revolution took place. A 12th grader only gave one right answer when doing his multiple choice test. He knew that September 2 is the Vietnamese National Day. However, he did not know why the day is celebrated as the National Day.
Thanh Mai
Đăng ký: VietNam News
