An English conversation course ended recently. In the spirit of celebrating the end of a successful course, I asked my students how they felt. I normally do not do this, but I broke my rule because the course was highly successful. My students were relaxed and talked without being prompted.
They said things like, "I enjoyed the course," and, "The course was fun." I enjoyed listening to them until a young man said, "I don't know if your class was good." Wow! This was a direct criticism. I was surprised because the student who said it had enjoyed the class. He had been attentive to what was discussed in the class and often gave interesting opinions.
Wondering why he was so critical of the course, I asked him for clarification. Here is his logic. To tell if an English conversation course is good or not, one must take a few other courses. It was his first course to take in his life and he could not compare it with other courses. This was why he did not know how good the course was. “I don’t know,” was not a criticism.
This logic is not the first time for me to hear. One will determine the value of an issue when he or she compares it with other issues. This is called relativism, which is what my student believes in.
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