Everything in Moderation, Everything in Flux

I remember this post fondly. In fact, all I have of it is memories, because I was told to censor it, and it is no more. However, I remember what was in it, and I suppose it is about time I remembered it here.

In that post, one of those which led to an unpleasant episode at the hands of certain interests, I pointed out that a lot of grade adjustment (what was called 'moderation' at a place I used to work in) was arbitrary. In fact, students would have been horrified to see what went on in those closed rooms.

Essentially, a list of potential targets for moderation was drawn up. Teachers would plead a case for specific targets to gain x points so that they would move across a grade boundary. Some teachers would fall asleep, bemused by the machinations of their colleagues; some would be rabidly alert, watching out for students they felt were undeserving of such ascension. A sideboard laden with food rich in sugars and fats stood by, along with appalling coffee, many months gone sour in its 'instant' glass jar.

The whole thing was more like a bourse or a slave-trading station than anything else. It was also clear that some people favoured other people. It was clear that the ability of the student, or even the potential ability, was not the deciding factor. Rather, it was whether people agreed with the idea of a particular student getting the bounty of a free mark (or three, or five, or in many cases, more than ten). In some cases, as boredom, ennui and fatigue set in, the main factor became stamina and the threat of having to stay in a room full of the temporarily insane for more than an hour or two in excess of the time already wasted.

Meanwhile, the department heads sat there, first to arrive (well, some were) and last to leave (well, most were). They manipulated, avoided, or counterattacked as their personalities allowed. Essentially, each one struck some sort of balance between being 'too easy' or being 'too difficult'. You had to show you were a team player — for the right team. You also had to maintain some semblance of integrity, although some were no longer capable of it. Occasionally, there'd be unedifying spectacle of several teachers and heads ganging up on another one just to make that person cough up a mark or two for a favourite son.

I sat through twenty-five sessions like that, and others of similar nature. At the back of my mind, I used to think, "How unreal this is. There are grades here that could never exist in real life, and some for which there is no justification at all. We are giving students resumés that are fake just as an exercise in bestowing largesse upon the favoured and showing who the fount of every blessing is supposed to be."

After the operation, most of the candidates would have survived. The post-op phase would begin, with people desperately running around to rig the scores, adjust the grades, calculate new distributions, re-mark some papers. Being somewhat computer literate, my projections were always done even before this phase. It was easy to see in advance who would be promoted, having powerful allies. I remember one head saying, "He's quite a cute boy, very well-behaved!" as if that had anything to do with academic potential. I noted such comments, since they were often clues as to what grades would be changed in the end.

And so, after a few hours, with some self-congratulatory comments about how kind we were, the whole party would be dismissed like a bunch of vacationing prostitutes no longer giving out favours to all and sundry. The problem, I suppose, is that if you accede to such practices even tacitly, you are joining the party. You may feel unclean for a while, but eventually you will feel better and begin to justify the whole process. I remember the chief of the operation saying, "If we don't do it, remember that other schools will, and that will disadvantage our students!"

Ah well, no point complaining. If the taint covers enough people, it ceases to be a taint, but a norm. No wonder we are told not to conform to the pattern of the world. It is very hard indeed to escape it. Even as I write this, arbitrary moderation is in full swing where wyverns once ruled their world. After all, if you have continuous assessment, you can have continuous moderation too!