Another funny thing that has been going on at the school is what this guy tells people they will earn if they attend his school. We have classes for beginners, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced. Each one is broken into 3 segments ex: Intermediate 1, 2 and 3. At the end of each semester there is a final exam and if you pass you are allowed to go on to the next level. Good news is everyone passes, that way you get passed along and will pay to take the next level class. At the end of each level 3 class there is supposed to be a more in depth or comprehensive final exam but there isn’t. It is supposed to be this way because after each level three class you receive a certificate saying you have completed, lets say the Intermediate level of study and have tested proficient. This certificate can then help you find a job if they require you to have a certain level of English proficiency.
There are just a few problems with this. First, the exam is not comprehensive. They are short and usually just questions where you choose the right word. Even for the Advanced level classes there is no reading or writing portion. Just sentences and you have to chose the correct word to complete it, or the words are mixed up and you have to put them in the right order to make a sentence. Second, like I said, everyone, if they paid their full tuition, passes. Third, the way they initially determine what level you are on is a complete fraud. When you register you take an entrance exam. This is supposed to say what level you are on so they know what group to place you in. However, if you are tested and found to be in a higher group, in theory you will be in the school a shorter amount of time because you will need fewer classes. So the guy will often place students a level or two below where they belong in hopes they will stay in the school longer. I have now had a number of students who halfway through a semester request to be moved up into a higher level because they feel they are more advanced than the level they are placed in. I have had adult students get mad at me because they feel the class is too easy for them and want to do more or move quicker and can’t so they get annoyed with the other students whose proficiency levels are not equal to theirs.
So, there is fraud involved in what level you are placed in so the guy can try to make more money. Then students get passed along so they will keep coming and taking classes. They then earn these certificates that say they have a certain level of English proficiency when they don’t. So you end up having classes where some students are more advanced than what you are teaching and some are far behind where they should be. I had one guy in my Upper Intermediate 2 class, no one else showed up. I tried to do the Upper Intermediate 2 work with him and he had no clue what I was saying or what any of the questions were asking. So without him knowing I made photo copies of other books to use. I copied stuff out of the Intermediate book because I thought it would be more his level. Even this he struggled with. I was talking with the secretary one night and said this guy is in Upper Intermediate 2 and cannot even do the Intermediate 1 work. She told me he has been coming here for a year (5-6 semesters) and gets passed right along and now I have him and he can’t do anything. I feel bad. I tried to learn French back in high school and was horrible at it. I know it is difficult but to just pass people along so they keep coming makes the entire school in my opinion a fraud and at the very least illegitimate. (this is also one of the problems I have with the Philadelphia School District)
The secretary told me things are worse at the universities. She is a law student and said she has seen a few things happen in her law classes. First, if a student fails they can pay the professor and they will pass them. Also, if the professor doesn’t like you, they may fail you, even if you pass, until you pay them. To make it clear, this is a bribe because you have already paid your tuition. She said some students never come to class because they paid the professor, whereas others sometimes fail multiple times until they agree to pay the professor. She said a number of the professors have gotten caught doing this but they keep their job because then they have to pay the university or give a kickback to someone else.
I was telling this to the people I live with and they laughed because it is well known. They said a lot of politicians will say what degree they have but it is all bogus. In the US there are fake universities you can find online and for a fee they will mail you a diploma and transcripts for any degree and subject area you want. The thing is if you Google the name of the college or university you will find that it is fake. However, here, you get a “legitimate” degree from a “legitimate” school. That would be like me giving $5000 to Rutgers and getting a Doctorate Degree in Education along with actual transcripts saying what classes I have taken. I asked, how do you actually know then who did the work and who didn’t. They said, you don’t.
This brings me to my last story about lying and fraud in my school (even though I can think of a few more, maybe some other time.) Again, I was standing there one night just talking with the secretary and the phone rang and it was for the owner, who was actually there. She gave him the phone and he went into a room and shut the door. The secretary said to me, “he doesn’t want me to know what the call is about” but that she knew what it was about. I asked what it was about. She told me that the one woman who works there, and pretends to run the place and is the only woman who gets along with the owner, had a friend who applied for a job but they required that she had computer skills. So the friend came up to the school and her and the teacher got on the computer and opened up the template we use for our certificate and changed around some of the information, so instead of it saying school for English they changed it to school for computer literacy, or something like that, and for course, instead of saying Intermediate 3 they put in a number of computer classes and printed it out. She gave them some money and the owner agreed that if anyone called he would vouch for it; and someone called and he told them, yes, we offer computer classes and that this woman completed them. Unbelievable.
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