Test-score manipulation damages students' future

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): The manipulation of test scores has been practiced for a long time in Indonesian schools. Not for the purpose of earning additional money, but mainly due to the teachers and their differing perceptions of individual students.

When I was a young teacher, I also had to manipulate the grades of some of my students on occasion. One day I gave a convincing F (4 on a scale of 1 to 10) to one of my students on his final exam. When all grades were submitted, and the fate of each student was discussed, there was some very active grade bargaining among members of the teaching staff. One senior colleague asked me to increase the grade of the student I flunked, because otherwise he would not graduate. To convince the other teachers that this particular student deserved to be passed, he said the student had slept in a graveyard for three consecutive nights before taking the final exam. To this colleague of mine, this was convincing evidence of the student's motivation and sufficient for passing the exam.

I was completely dumbfounded. What does sleeping in a graveyard have to do with his academic competence? To me, this courageous act --because I would never have the courage to sleep alone in a graveyard even for one night -- has no relation whatsoever to his academic ability. But all the other members of the teaching staff --all older than myself-- seemed to sympathize with the student, who reportedly had a hard economic life. I was outvoted, and I had to change the grade I previously assigned to him. No matter how you look at it, that was grade manipulation.

Changing scores or grades for money, however, is a new development. Not quite that new, actually. It has been going on for at least twenty years, but it has never been done so openly. It is only recently that this practice of "selling" higher grades has been conducted without the slightest cover, without the slightest shame.

What is the reason for this blatant malpractice?

Many people think that this situation is primarily the result of low teacher salaries. Another factor is the lure of an easy and comfortable life, especially in the big cities. I would like to add a third factor, and that is the erosion of professional ethics. It is the combination of these three factors that has ultimately made some teachers surrender to the temptation of abusing their power.

This explanation is by no means a justification. No matter the reason, this practice remains a violation of the basic principles of education.

It should be noted in this regard that grade evaluations serve two purposes. One, to gauge a student's achievement as best as possible, and as truly as possible. And second, to provide a guide for the steps that will be taken to advance the student's educational or professional career. These two functions are interrelated. It is only when reports about a student's progress are accurate that they become valuable instruments for planning the student's future.

Viewed in this context, reports that are deliberately falsified have no educational value whatsoever, and will ultimately have a negative impact on the students, their parents and society. Those who manipulate grades directly obstruct the educational process which purports to guide students towards reaching their potential. Those who abuse their power by giving false reports distort the student's perception of his ability and potential, thereby misguiding them and their future.

A still greater damage caused by this abuse of power is its impact on the students and their parents. Those who succeed in buying higher grades will eventually think that everything in this life is for sale. Since real life is not like that, sooner or later they will come across something which they so much desire but cannot buy. One will then by cured of these illusions either by painfully and humiliatingly accepting the hard reality or by becoming mentally distorted by refusing to accept the real world. I do not think that those who manipulate grades for money really realize to what extent their misdeeds damage society.

Unfortunately, in this country it is not easy to ask students and parents to look at a student's report calmly and reflectively and have a discussion about its accuracy and meaning. Most Indonesian students and their parents just accept the report without much ado. If they are not satisfied with the report, they will keep their dissatisfaction to themselves. They do not protest. If a student's parents want to see better grades in their child's report they will just bribe the teacher or teachers. This is an unhealthy situation that must be stopped if we want to have an educational system that is respectable and reliable.

Ideally, the parents, the student, and the teacher will come together and discuss what is not quite right in the report. Each party can then suggest how the report can be improved so as to give a truer picture of the student's capability. This is what Guba and Lincoln called the fourth-generation evaluation, or evaluation by negotiation. In this type of evaluation, a student's progress is not judged only by the teachers, but by all parties concerned. If evaluation by negotiation can be implemented, I think that the practice of "trading grades" will stop automatically.

But to reach that point, we still have a very, very long way to go.

The writer is an observer of social and political affairs.