Letter in today's Age.

[kendraaaaa]

I think she's an idiot (I'm sure she's verry smart at something else).

Do you understand quantum electrodynamics? no? Then you must be an idiot! I'm sure you're very smart at something else though.

Talking about how someone doesn't understand something is all well and good but calling them an idiot because they don't understand it? That's just 100% pure douche bag.

yes, I'm an idiot when it comes to quantum eloctrodynamics. That is why I don't write articles about quantum eloctrodynamics or criticise any sectors of the quantum eloctrodynamic community. Nor would I do so with environmental science or with nuclear physics or the russian revolution, and if I chose to write about one of those topics and made fundamental mistakes in my writing then i would need accept criticism from people who do know what they're talking about.

0wndddddddddddddd

[Cthulhu]

I think she's an idiot (I'm sure she's verry smart at something else).

Do you understand quantum electrodynamics? no? Then you must be an idiot! I'm sure you're very smart at something else though.

Talking about how someone doesn't understand something is all well and good but calling them an idiot because they don't understand it? That's just 100% pure douche bag.

yes, I'm an idiot when it comes to quantum eloctrodynamics. That is why I don't write articles about quantum eloctrodynamics or criticise any sectors of the quantum eloctrodynamic community. Nor would I do so with environmental science or with nuclear physics or the russian revolution, and if I chose to write about one of those topics and made fundamental mistakes in my writing then i would need accept criticism from people who do know what they're talking about.

So you understand how the VCE system works then? Explain to me how the current system VCAA and VTAC use is fair to students.

Edit: To clarify: I wasn't attacking you for attacking her letter about the VCE system, it was obvious she didn't understand it. I said what I said regarding your idiot comment which I thought was a bit harsh.

[HERculina]

It's hard to maintain Rank 1 if you have a teacher who marks quite harshly compared to others, as well as teachers favouring other students I Only got full marks for bio once, and there were other teachers handing out full marks like lollies.... I even compared my sacs to other students who got full marks and id say most of mine were better...

Aren't all SACs meant to be cross-marked by 2 teachers to eliminate the effect of biases such as this?

My teacher told me that for biology next year there will be two teachers. For the first sac, one teacher marks the whole lot, which would be papers from around 50 kids (heaps of people do biology at my school) and then for the next sac the other teacher would mark that whole lot and then they continue with this pattern. Would this marking style be fair and eliminate any subjectiveness in marking?

[Streaker]

It's hard to maintain Rank 1 if you have a teacher who marks quite harshly compared to others, as well as teachers favouring other students I Only got full marks for bio once, and there were other teachers handing out full marks like lollies.... I even compared my sacs to other students who got full marks and id say most of mine were better...

Aren't all SACs meant to be cross-marked by 2 teachers to eliminate the effect of biases such as this?

My teacher told me that for biology next year there will be two teachers. For the first sac, one teacher marks the whole lot, which would be papers from around 50 kids (heaps of people do biology at my school) and then for the next sac the other teacher would mark that whole lot and then they continue with this pattern. Would this marking style be fair and eliminate any subjectiveness in marking?

Within a school, yes, it is the fairest possible way to eliminate subjectivity* in the marking.

[werdna]

It's hard to maintain Rank 1 if you have a teacher who marks quite harshly compared to others, as well as teachers favouring other students I Only got full marks for bio once, and there were other teachers handing out full marks like lollies.... I even compared my sacs to other students who got full marks and id say most of mine were better...

Aren't all SACs meant to be cross-marked by 2 teachers to eliminate the effect of biases such as this?

My teacher told me that for biology next year there will be two teachers. For the first sac, one teacher marks the whole lot, which would be papers from around 50 kids (heaps of people do biology at my school) and then for the next sac the other teacher would mark that whole lot and then they continue with this pattern. Would this marking style be fair and eliminate any subjectiveness in marking?

That wouldn't be a very good way of marking... they're just taking turns, not keeping track of each other's marking methods. SACs need to be crossmarked.

[HERculina]

It's hard to maintain Rank 1 if you have a teacher who marks quite harshly compared to others, as well as teachers favouring other students I Only got full marks for bio once, and there were other teachers handing out full marks like lollies.... I even compared my sacs to other students who got full marks and id say most of mine were better...

Aren't all SACs meant to be cross-marked by 2 teachers to eliminate the effect of biases such as this?

My teacher told me that for biology next year there will be two teachers. For the first sac, one teacher marks the whole lot, which would be papers from around 50 kids (heaps of people do biology at my school) and then for the next sac the other teacher would mark that whole lot and then they continue with this pattern. Would this marking style be fair and eliminate any subjectiveness in marking?

That wouldn't be a very good way of marking... they're just taking turns, not keeping track of each other's marking methods. SACs need to be crossmarked.

hm. is cross marking when two teachers mark your work

EDIT: o dw, i just realized this was already stated above. xD

[werdna]

^ Well when one teacher marks a SAC then a second teacher marks it again. If the difference between the two scores is more than 2 or 3 marks (I think) it gets remarked by a third teacher.

EDIT: If the English teachers at my school can crossmark 300 essays every two months, then I'm sure your teachers would be able to crossmark 50 Biology SACs pretty comfortably.

[chrisjb]

I think she's an idiot (I'm sure she's verry smart at something else).

Do you understand quantum electrodynamics? no? Then you must be an idiot! I'm sure you're very smart at something else though.

Talking about how someone doesn't understand something is all well and good but calling them an idiot because they don't understand it? That's just 100% pure douche bag.

yes, I'm an idiot when it comes to quantum eloctrodynamics. That is why I don't write articles about quantum eloctrodynamics or criticise any sectors of the quantum eloctrodynamic community. Nor would I do so with environmental science or with nuclear physics or the russian revolution, and if I chose to write about one of those topics and made fundamental mistakes in my writing then i would need accept criticism from people who do know what they're talking about.

So you understand how the VCE system works then? Explain to me how the current system VCAA and VTAC use is fair to students.

Edit: To clarify: I wasn't attacking you for attacking her letter about the VCE system, it was obvious she didn't understand it. I said what I said regarding your idiot comment which I thought was a bit harsh.

I believe it's fair to students, obviously there are problems with it (as someone pointed out earlier, the ranking system may fail in a small cohort), but these aren't problems that Ms. Patrik outlined in her letter, she atacked an aspect of the system which i believe is a fair aspect (the process of moderation of cohort's sacs).

EDIT: on seccond thought, you're right. The word idiot is derogatory. I changed it.

[adelaide.emily10]

I think this individual wrote her letter in the spur of the moment...but i agree with the people on VN about how you get a false sense of security at your school and you don't know how strong all the other schools are

but i do think schools need to educate students on how the system works so they won't be surprised by their marks  :police: (i've never seen anyone use this symbol,so i wanted to make use of it)

[LOVEPHYSICS]

I got an A+ A+ A in legal studies in year 11 and ended up with a 38. Her score does seem a little tough though I agree that students should be better educated about how the system works. I can't speak on behalf of private schools, but in order for public school students to be better informed, I believe that public schools should make more of an effort in ensuring that their teachers themselves actually understand how the system works in the first place.

[Fyrefly]

Necro displeases Fyrefly.