Methodology Week 1 Question

(1)

(i) Peter's story: Page 2
A. Other options available:
(a) Peter could have stuck with his decision to award a fail grade.
(b) Peter could have allowed more time for the student to re-sit exams.
(c) Peter could have tried to help the student even more (although he, Peter, had already given "both encouragements and warnings").

B. How would I have handled the situation?
- It's hard to say that I would have behaved differently from Peter.

C. What values or moral beliefs would have led me to my decision?

- A belief that a person should not be rewarded for doing no work.

- A sense that other students who had worked would be offended to discover that another student received a passing grade despite having done now work.

(ii) Hae Young's story: Page 7

A. Other optiona available:

(a) Award a fail grade

(b) Do some research into the way that Koreans are educated.

B. How would I have handled the situation?

I hope that I'd have been as patient as Bill Johnston.

C. What values or moral beliefs would have led me to my decision?

- A desire to be fair, and to try to understand the way that people from a different culture may think/behave differently.

(iii) Russian student not wearing a clean shirt: Page 19

A. Other options available:

(a) Say nothing.

(b) Offer simple, polite advice on cleaning clothes and using deodorant.

B. How would I have handled the situation?

Talked a little bit about how I handle my own laundry.

C. What values or moral beliefs would have led me to my decision?

- A sense that it is not polite to ridicule/humiliate someone in public.

- A belief that it's common courtesy to be clean and tidy in the company of other people.

Have you ever given a student a grade different from the one he really deserved?

A. I think that I may have awarded a student a higher grade than he really deserved.

Why? Because I felt that he ha tried very hard with a topic that was very difficult for him.

What values or moral reasons were behind your decision?

A. A sense that: where a student has made a great effort, he deserves some reward.