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Moral conduct grades violate students' rights: MOE

"How are [the students] `talented,' for example? Specific achievements should be clearly noted."

an unnamed official from the Department of Elementary Education

The Ministry of Education announced this week that elementary and junior high school teachers will no longer be allowed to give students a "moral conduct or behavior" letter grade on their report cards.

The ministry considered thatsuch grade-giving was against students' rights, officials said.

Currently, all elementary, junior high, and high schools in the country give letter grades to reflect their students' overall behavior and moral conduct during a semester.

The grades appear on end-of-term report cards along with two adjectives describing the student, such as "talented" and "hardworking," or "straightforward" and "optimistic."

The adjectives are usually chosen by teachers from a supplied list.

An official from the Department of Elementary Education under the Ministry of Education said that a student's behavior should no longer be judged simply on a letter grade at the end of each semester.

The practice violates students' rights, the official said, because it reduces the students' conduct to a mere letter-grade evaluation.

In addition, the adjectives say nothing about the students' performance at school, he said.

"How are [the students] `talented,' for example? Specific achievements should be clearly noted," he said.

The education ministry hoped to do away with the current system in elementary and junior high schools from August 1, he said.

A proposal to abandon the current moral conduct grading system in high schools in favor of an "overall everyday performance grade" was still being discussed, the official said.

Both letter grades and number scores are currently given in high schools.

High schools nationwide stipulate that at least a C average (or 60 out of 100) moral conduct grade is required in order for a student to graduate, but many colleges only accept students with scores of 80 or higher.
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