A math teacher at a high school in the North Korean city of Hyesan was recently reprimanded by his principal after students performed poorly on a test.
A source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK recently that first-year high school students scored lower on average than other grades during a school-wide math contest on June 26.
During a teachers’ meeting held after the contest, the principal criticized the grade’s homeroom math teacher, calling him unqualified and incompetent.
“I did my best to teach the students this semester, but the questions were too difficult for them to handle,” the criticized teacher protested.
Tests in these periodic school-wide contests typically consist of 20% review questions, 40% practice questions, and 40% general questions. Since the general questions usually require advanced problem-solving skills, most teachers adjust the difficulty to match the average student’s ability.
The math teacher who was criticized during the meeting is relatively new to the job. While experienced teachers make sure to keep test questions within students’ reach, this teacher followed the official guidelines without considering the difficulty level.
Veterans share survival tips
After the teachers’ meeting, veteran staff members offered some practical advice to the math teacher. “Nobody wants to get yelled at, so just keep the questions simple,” one teacher suggested.
“As long as your students get good scores, you won’t have any problems with the principal,” another said.
“The top students all transferred to better schools, and many students here will never get a perfect score. You can raise the average by making the questions easier,” a third added.
“The faculty understand that students’ grades are ultimately in their own hands. Teachers who write questions for school-wide subject tests always struggle with how to avoid getting reprimanded,” the source said.
“Whenever students have low test scores, the principal scolds teachers for being unqualified. Teachers like to point out that nobody will work to improve students’ abilities if it means getting yelled at.”
Since students’ test scores are used to evaluate teachers’ performance, teachers frequently manipulate test questions to avoid criticism or even earn praise for their students’ good scores.
The source said that as long as teachers are blamed for low scores in the subjects they teach, they will continue resorting to the questionable practice of filling their tests with easy questions.
