12/20/04
MONDAY
DECEMBER 20, 2004
This was my last day of classes before Christmas Break. I hold two classes on Monday and Wednesday each: Basic Statistics from 1:00-2:30 and Basic Mathematics from 3:00-5:30. This time around it was midterms. Yes, midterms and not finals. After midterms they get Christmas break, and then they continue the rest of the semester until the middle of February when they are given Final Exam. Two weeks off and then the new semester starts the beginning of March. Strange schedule, but it works – except for the weeks off for Muslim or Christian Holidays or “Student Election Week” or “Student Union Week”, etc. The downside to all these holidays is that when I get back after Christmas Break I effectively only have three weeks to teach the second half of the semester.
Anyway, I worked all weekend preparing the midterm exams. Each midterm had twenty questions, all multiple-choice. With the midterm counting for 25% of their grade (university policy) I made a rule that if more than half the class gets a question wrong I would throw that question out as being unfair. In a class of a half-dozen they could theoretically all conspire and beat the system, but not so for a class of thirty. I did this same policy for the homework and it worked quite well.
One problem: Getting mail. I was stuck in Banjul and it’s creeping up at 11:30. In an hour and half I’m supposed to be in my classroom proctoring a midterm and we were still waiting on packages. Of all times I could be late this was one time that was unacceptable. Finally the packages came and we set off. On the way back I had ten minutes to spare and I still had to change. There was no way I could make to the office and help them unload, so they dropped me off at my house as I ran inside, quickly changed and proctored my two exams on time.
When I was leaving one exam a student came up to me:
“Mr. Sheppard?”
“Yes.”
“Did you notice that Ebrima was not in class today to take the midterm?”
“Yes I did. I noticed two people were not here.” Ebrima was one of the better students and it confused me as to why he wasn’t at the midterm exam.
“He’s in jail.”
That would explain it.
“Why is he in jail?”
“He was protesting in Serrekunda and they arrested him on Friday. He should be out in a day or two.”
“Ok. Tell him I will make a make-up exam for him for Wednesday. He can come to Peace Corps office any time.”
Missing an exam for being drunk, or some other excuse people use in the US for being arrested or just missing an exam would not cut it, but I thought civil disobedience was a good excuse. The Gambian Government, despite heavy protests from journalists and editors from domestic and international sources, had passed a law back in December that would sentence jail terms for journalists found guilty of libel or sedition. One of the press law's leading critics, the editor of private newspaper The Point, was shot dead days after the law was passed. Throughout the capital area there were protests to find the murderer, but the police, due to government pressure, closed the case as unsolved. Ebrima was in Serrekunda protesting the police’s submissiveness.
The student continued on her way while I went to proctor my other exam in another building. The Basic Statistics Course is taught at MDI, Management Development Institute, in which the University has two classrooms rented out. The Basic Mathematics course, on the other hand, is taught at the Faculty Building a few blocks away.
After dinner at the new Hostel I went back to the office to call Steve to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was around 11 pm our time when I called. After I hung up I went to the computer lab to get all grading done with the midterms and enter them into the computer. The only other person in the room was Vickie. After grading, figuring out which questions were unfair and correcting the papers, and entering them into the computer, it was around three in the morning. By this time we both agreed it’s so late we might as well stay up the whole night. She stayed busy e-mailing friends and family while I just read funny anecdotes of scientists for the next couple of hours.
By six in the morning my only computer-companion for the night gave up on me and went to lie down in the volunteer lounge. I finished reading the stories, and then went back doing more statistical analysis on the midterms – figuring which two questions were the highest correlated; something to pass the time away.
DECEMBER 20, 2004
This was my last day of classes before Christmas Break. I hold two classes on Monday and Wednesday each: Basic Statistics from 1:00-2:30 and Basic Mathematics from 3:00-5:30. This time around it was midterms. Yes, midterms and not finals. After midterms they get Christmas break, and then they continue the rest of the semester until the middle of February when they are given Final Exam. Two weeks off and then the new semester starts the beginning of March. Strange schedule, but it works – except for the weeks off for Muslim or Christian Holidays or “Student Election Week” or “Student Union Week”, etc. The downside to all these holidays is that when I get back after Christmas Break I effectively only have three weeks to teach the second half of the semester.
Anyway, I worked all weekend preparing the midterm exams. Each midterm had twenty questions, all multiple-choice. With the midterm counting for 25% of their grade (university policy) I made a rule that if more than half the class gets a question wrong I would throw that question out as being unfair. In a class of a half-dozen they could theoretically all conspire and beat the system, but not so for a class of thirty. I did this same policy for the homework and it worked quite well.
One problem: Getting mail. I was stuck in Banjul and it’s creeping up at 11:30. In an hour and half I’m supposed to be in my classroom proctoring a midterm and we were still waiting on packages. Of all times I could be late this was one time that was unacceptable. Finally the packages came and we set off. On the way back I had ten minutes to spare and I still had to change. There was no way I could make to the office and help them unload, so they dropped me off at my house as I ran inside, quickly changed and proctored my two exams on time.
When I was leaving one exam a student came up to me:
“Mr. Sheppard?”
“Yes.”
“Did you notice that Ebrima was not in class today to take the midterm?”
“Yes I did. I noticed two people were not here.” Ebrima was one of the better students and it confused me as to why he wasn’t at the midterm exam.
“He’s in jail.”
That would explain it.
“Why is he in jail?”
“He was protesting in Serrekunda and they arrested him on Friday. He should be out in a day or two.”
“Ok. Tell him I will make a make-up exam for him for Wednesday. He can come to Peace Corps office any time.”
Missing an exam for being drunk, or some other excuse people use in the US for being arrested or just missing an exam would not cut it, but I thought civil disobedience was a good excuse. The Gambian Government, despite heavy protests from journalists and editors from domestic and international sources, had passed a law back in December that would sentence jail terms for journalists found guilty of libel or sedition. One of the press law's leading critics, the editor of private newspaper The Point, was shot dead days after the law was passed. Throughout the capital area there were protests to find the murderer, but the police, due to government pressure, closed the case as unsolved. Ebrima was in Serrekunda protesting the police’s submissiveness.
The student continued on her way while I went to proctor my other exam in another building. The Basic Statistics Course is taught at MDI, Management Development Institute, in which the University has two classrooms rented out. The Basic Mathematics course, on the other hand, is taught at the Faculty Building a few blocks away.
After dinner at the new Hostel I went back to the office to call Steve to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was around 11 pm our time when I called. After I hung up I went to the computer lab to get all grading done with the midterms and enter them into the computer. The only other person in the room was Vickie. After grading, figuring out which questions were unfair and correcting the papers, and entering them into the computer, it was around three in the morning. By this time we both agreed it’s so late we might as well stay up the whole night. She stayed busy e-mailing friends and family while I just read funny anecdotes of scientists for the next couple of hours.
By six in the morning my only computer-companion for the night gave up on me and went to lie down in the volunteer lounge. I finished reading the stories, and then went back doing more statistical analysis on the midterms – figuring which two questions were the highest correlated; something to pass the time away.
posted by Mike | 5:20 PM
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