Debate on literature test with sensitive material

Literature test of Colette Secondary School (District 3, HCMC)

Does the literature test contain sensitive material?

On December 27, the literature test for 8th graders at Colette Secondary School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) attracted the attention of parents and teachers. There were controversial opinions about the content of the materials used in the test because they were thought to "disparage" the teaching profession and should not be used.

Specifically, the literature test has the following content:

"Read the following text and do the tasks below:

" A teacher was a glutton. That day, someone invited him to a party, so he let a young student follow him. When he arrived, he sat down at the party and told his student to stand next to him. Seeing that there were still many cakes and fruits on the tray, he was full but he wanted to pocket a few. Afraid that people around would see and lose face, the teacher calmly took the cake and gave it to his student, saying:

- Here, take this!

As he gave it, the teacher winked at him and told him to keep it and bring it back to him. The student did not understand the teacher's profound wink, thinking that he was giving it to him for real, so he immediately opened it and ate it. The teacher was very angry when he saw it, but in the crowd, he did not dare to scold him.

When it was time to leave, the teacher still remembered the cakes and wanted to find an excuse to take revenge on his student. When the two of them were walking past each other, the teacher angrily scolded the student:

Are you my brother or what? How dare you walk on the same level as me?

The student was scared and quickly walked forward. The teacher scolded again:

Are you my father or what to dare go before me?

The student fell behind. The teacher shouted again:

I'm not a prisoner that you have to follow behind to escort me.

The student turned back and said, bewildered:

Sir, no matter what I do, you scold me, so please tell me what should I do?

The teacher did not hesitate any longer and said angrily:

Where is my cake?

(Story "Where is my cake?" - sachhay24h.com)

Question 1: What genre does the above text belong to?

Question 2: What is the lesson learned from the above text?

Sentence 3: State the explicit and implied meanings in the sentence: "Here, take it!".

Question 4: Based on the text, identify the setting and character type.

Question 5: Write a short paragraph (5-7 lines) stating your thoughts on the lesson learned from the above text.

Master HTP, who is teaching literature at a secondary school in Tan Phu District (HCMC), commented: Firstly, regarding the material referring to the "gluttonous teacher", the way the teacher and student address each other is unaesthetic and somewhat sensitive.

Second, question 2, state the lesson learned from the above text and question 5, write a short paragraph (5-7 lines) stating your thoughts on the lesson learned from the above text, repeating the content of the question.

Third, suppose the student answers these two questions: "Students must be very careful and must be "educated" well before coming to school." How should the teacher grade them?

Fourth, can a 14-year-old student understand the connotation of the concept of "teacher" and the content of the text "Where is my cake?"? Furthermore, the text talks about the famine of the past, teachers and students were equally hungry, food was a humiliation, is that interesting?

The teacher emphasized: "In fact, 10th grade students in the old program studied the story "Three Chickens" , criticizing the ignorant teacher who teaches. However, the content of the text has been thoroughly taught to students. As for the text " Where is my cake ?", for 8th grade students, it should be considered to include it in the test because it is somewhat offensive."

Teacher Vo Kim Bao, Nguyen Du Secondary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), commented: "The question is correct in terms of the program requirements, but the source of the question is not good. The language is a bit sensitive, teachers should consider the educational value of the question. There are jokes, children need to have more life experiences to have a correct perspective and assessment."

Colette Secondary School's 8th grade test sparks controversy

How should teachers choose materials?

In response to some opinions that the language in the test was intended to defame the teaching profession, Master Tran Le Duy, lecturer of the Literature Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said: "I don't think the test was intended to defame teachers or anything. It was just criticizing a bad phenomenon in the old society, through an individual."

At the same time, Master Duy also commented on the test: The material also clearly shows the genre of folk tales. However, the source is not guaranteed, being a website that synthesizes information, so it is difficult to be sure of the accuracy of the material.

From there, Master Tran Le Duy emphasized: "Finding materials for the test is not easy but not too difficult. In principle, we must choose reputable materials, that is, teachers should choose materials from reliable sources. To do so, teachers need to take the time to read, research and evaluate carefully. Teachers need to pay attention to the difficulty of the materials. The difficulty of the materials must be equivalent to the texts in textbooks in terms of capacity, expression, topic, content... The materials must be aesthetically pleasing, guide people towards beauty, goodness, and be educational."

The school will take note and will organize a review.

Sharing with the press, Ms. Luu Thi Ha Phuong, Principal of Colette Secondary School, said: "In the 8th grade literature program, students learn about the genre of jokes. Jokes often criticize bad habits in society such as bragging, gluttony, laziness... Therefore, when giving the final exam questions, teachers chose a story in that direction and did not intend to criticize any subject or profession."

However, the head of Colette Secondary School added: "The materials used in the literature test are not valuable and are somewhat sensitive. The school will take note of this issue and will organize a review after the end of the first semester test."

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