Over the last couple of years, I have spent a great lot of time writing dissertations and essays for foreign students from Universities positioned across vast swathes of land; from Wisconsin till London. I do this less because of the monetary benefit, and more because it really drives me to write, something that I have not particularly been able to smoothly do for a while.
One great thing that I continually notice about most of these foreign professors who grade “my” articles is that they leave extremely detailed explanations regarding their marking, and seem extremely fair. I have had the pleasure of achieving course-highest marks multiple times, and even in those cases, the professors cared to leave a detailed explanation on how things could have been done better, or an attachment of a better view.
On the other hand, my own professors in Dhaka basically mark my papers without a single red ink in them. Last week, I received a mid-term result in a subject that I am particularly good at, with around 70% marks (a fail, by local standards) – but the whole paper did not have a single drop of red ink inside. Everything was okay, absolutely nothing was off, except the one single mark on top of the sheet.
I could go and ask what was wrong – but we all know that she would not bother to explain. She is a full-time teacher in a public university, a part-time teacher at a private university, a trainer for a very well known “accredited” training institute that all local employers vouch for, and a contractor of government projects – she simply did not have the time to see anything in my 9 page answer-sheet except the size of each answer.
The problem is now so acute, that sometimes I feel that I am not learning things from my teachers at all – from the best Private Institution in the country!