[Letters] Teacher assessment flawed

Kim Eun of Daewon Foreign Language High School, on July 6, writes: “Students fill in survey papers and freely write their opinion, including criticism of, compliments about and expectations for the teacher.” At Kyung Hee University, where I taught for two years, the students must evaluate their professors before they can access semester grades. That, in and of itself, may cause grade inflation.

Kim says this system “contributes greatly to the high standard for the foreign teachers at my school since the teachers can acknowledge their mistakes and improve the next year or, in some cases, be dismissed for ineffective teaching.” At a foreign language high school where I taught, none of the English native speakers were still working one year later.

Richard Thompson, Berkeley, California