A Demeritable Practice

Card A-325

parrot

-v. to blindly repeat or copy

How ironic. I parrot these definitions to Elite 50 times a day. I simply store these new words temporarily in my mind until Monday, the day we're tested, when I forget about it forever. The vocab tests are not comprehensive and do not engrain into memory. It’s clear that this method of building up vocabulary is completely pointless and idealistic. Those Koreans who run Elite expect us students to remember those words for the rest of our lives by being tested by it once. So then comes the question: is Elite really dependable to improve the SAT scores?

Card A-443

Skeptical

-adj. tending to question or doubt

Before answering the question directly, we must acknowledge Elite’s special “tool” to “encourage” the students to learn. It is the Demerit. A completely flawed concept, the Demerit is issued to students who "fail" (getting an 80 or lower) the daily vocabulary, reading, math, and writing quizzes and forces them to stay one hour after the class ends. It takes place in Elite’s white prison-like classrooms, and no talking is allowed. If you are caught, your one hour of serving time is doubled. It is essentially a strict detention.

This practice differs from the method of typical high schools, where detention is only issued to those who commit specific morally offensive actions against the school system. This includes vandalism, cheating, drugs, etc. However, according to Elite, a 79% on a quiz is morally wrong. This 79% is on the same level as flicking off your math teacher. How logical. Furthermore, the typical parents who send their children to Elite already have their own ways of improving their children's work ethic and academic performance. Take the common case among the Asian parents: Constant nagging, pressuring, and monitoring when they are aware of their child’s subpar academic performance. This method has proven to be sufficient in prodding the child along with his academic pursuit at school, so logically it could be applied to Elite; it’s summer school for SAT. Although this stereotypical example with the Asian parents may vary throughout the various homes and families, Elite has no right whatsoever to change the parents' way of handling things (especially when the parents are paying tons of money). The demerit is clearly an abuse of power which is unnecessary to “encourage” the student to achieve success.

Card B-461

futile

-adj. having no useful result

Clearly, Elite is run by people who have no understanding of the students, using faulty and flawed methods for their idealistic goals. What is evident, however, is their clear understanding of profit and greed. For a whopping $2000 for each student, each of the 6 classrooms amasses $32,000, so $192,000 is made during each session. Then there are 3 sessions, the morning, afternoon, and weekend, so Elite’s profit is tripled to be $576,000. Even more is that there are 32 total branches of this enterprise, so Elite accumulates $18,432,000 each summer. It is plain to see that Elite is a completely lucrative business. The question is no longer whether Elite’s methods work or not to improve SAT scores, but rather if Elite’s purpose is to improve the student or the size of the owners’ wallets. When the manager of Northwood’s Elite branch pulls out of the parking lot in her Maserati, what is really on her mind-the students or the money?