There are a lot of students in our generation that are as intelligent as their grades show them to be. This is because they work hard to prove themselves to everybody, but a grade does not fully reflect the intelligence of a student. Somebody brilliant could be hiding behind a letter grade that they “earned.” For some students it’s a simple misunderstanding or an absence had gotten in the way, while other students just choose not to show their full potential.
It is unachievable to completely understand someone's intelligence. An IQ test can’t even fully ascertain the meticulous concept of the capable intelligence. Grades only echo a small meaningless portion of knowledge that may never be used in our lives ever again. To claim that one letter grade determines the full knowledge of one single person is as if saying it’s easily acceptable to openly destroy a person simply for their differentiality.
The human brain is more complex and capable than most of our generation choose to acknowledge. Quizzes and tests are helpful in bringing forth some of the collective memory a human stores away. This memory is accompanied by many other skills like reasoning, time awareness, judgement, and stress management. There is a possibility of other skills that come in on the way. These skills are needed in future everyday lives If we ignore the fact that we are not actually realizing the reality of our situation, we will forever forget that grades mean much less than we acknowledge.
As we go to graduate, our friends and family smother us in compliments claiming us to have "full knowledge" and then put us on a pedestal with "possibilities" of geniusness. Anybody can understand the things going on around them and figure out a solution; like ...
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...d before throwing us under. We know, from experience, that it's painful for somebody to measure one's capabilities by a single letter grade. We know that that specific grade doesn't fully speak the truth, unless we let it.
Works Cited
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Landry, Lauren. "Why Grades Just Don't Matter." BostInno. Streetwise Media, 30 July 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Popham, William James. "Why Standardized Tests Don't Measure Educational Quality." Ascd.org. Educational Leadership, Mar. 1999. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
"Do Grades Reflect Intelligence?" The Premier Online Debate Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
"Grades = Intelligence? - SciForums.com." Grades = Intelligence? - SciForums.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Miltich, Matthew. "Standardized Testing and Assessment Do Not Improve Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 151-54. Print.
The letter grade to symbolize this is “C”. The fair share grading system goal is to achieve the average. For this system, the students all receive the same schooling, but do teachers and faculty believe that students are all achieving above average grades? Through the fair share grading system, students are seen to be unable to reach the standard goals. With that being said, students must be guided or coached through school by those around them. This could ultimately lead to false self- value. Self-value is defined as the views or opinions one places upon oneself. In this case, false self-value is that one may be lacking believe and confidence. If the education system changed to the fair share grading technique, students could be led to believe that they are not as smart as everyone else so they should rely on their classmates’
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Former professor of geophysics, Stuart Rojstaczer, in his informative op-ed piece, “Grade Inflation Gone Wild,” featured in “Christian Science Monitior(2009),” investigates grade inflation among universities today. Rojstaczer’s purpose is to inform and educate universities on the inflation of grades, and how an A has become the average grade among those schools. He adopts a dismissive tone when generalizing and addressing the students on their behaviors and actions. Rojstaczer found over 80 universities with data on they’re grades, using this he was able to better understand the inflation and also analyze possible solutions. His logos based writing portrays a negative connotation on todays students and their ability to achieve within the classroom. There is no hiding that the standard for grades has been on the rise sense the 1960’s, and is now at an average GPA of a 3.0, but rojstaczer may have lost his audience with his arrogant approach.
Worthen, Blaine R., and Vicki Spandel. "Putting the Standardized Testing Debate in Perspective." Educational Leadership Feb. 1991: 65-69. ASCD. 1 Dec. 2013
Today, schools are making it a priority for teachers to follow the strict guidelines of a “one size fits all testing curriculum.” Educators must prepare students for the tests that could make or break their future. This curriculum is focused only on teaching students what they need to know in order to pass the test. “Because the test is based largely on the memorization of facts, teachers will have to teach their students these specific facts instead of teaching for deep comprehension and understanding of material.” (Martin, 309) As a result, students do not learn the true lesson. Although it is highly important that students pass “the test,” this strictly based curriculum is ignoring the important academic skills and fundamentals needed for their future, even beyond the years of high stakes testing; without these needed skills students will be left in the dark once they have graduated from high school. Students often learn on different levels and their educational requirements are not being met with the “one size fits all” approach. Those who create these tests tend not to include those who learn on a different educational level; rather their focus is pointed towards the money rather than on the success of all students. Children need to learn sk...
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
Lyndsey Layton has been covering nation education since 2011, she has written on many different topics in education, and has been employed by the Washington Post since 1998. In her article about standardized testing she states, “...students should be judged by multiple measures, including student work, written teacher observations and grades. And they overwhelmingly think teacher quality is the best way to improve education, followed by high academic standards and effective principals.” (Layton pg.1). This quote shows that standardized tests only judge certain measures of a student's intelligence. Students should be graded in multiple areas not just how well they can answer multiple choice problems. Standardized tests only grade students on one way of thinking and discourage creative, out of the box thinking. Kira Zalan is an editor for the U.S. News Weekly, she first appeared in September of 2011, and has been writing since. Zalan states, “...there are multiple paths to the same outcome and that engagement is an extremely important aspect of the equation.”(Zalan pg.1). Standardized tests only allow for one path of thinking. There can be multiple different ways to find an answer, but if students do not answer the “correct” way they will be graded as wrong. Because these tests are graded by machines and not people, the participants answers
Kohn, Alfie. What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated? and More Essays on Standards, Grading, and Other Follies. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2004. Print.
Ferriter, Bill. Standardized Tests Alone Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Students. Opposing Viewpoints School Reform. Ed. Noah Berlatsky. Detroit: Christine Nasso, 2011 94-99. Print.
However, such accusations such as laziness and entitlement, although common, have been prevalent amongst those of college age as proven in “A’s for Everyone.” Shepard had investigated the cause behind this and had put the blame on grade inflation in the years prior to entering college, the pressure to get superb grades due to high tuition costs, and most importantly the belief that “effort” constitutes a grade bonus. However, if one has entered the school system in America, one could see the relative ease in which one could improve their grades through inordinate amounts of extra credit. Multiple students have heard and even seen fellow students ask their parents to even come in for meetings of which equate to blaming their child’s poor grades on the teacher and harassing said teacher to allow their child, soon to be a hardworking, productive citizen of society, to get the “grade they
Popham, W. James. “Standardized Achievement Tests: Misnamed and Misleading.” Education Week. September 2001. Web. 28 June 2015.
The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an individual how they were performing. There was no interest by the public in reporting the school’s progress at teaching. Teachers, in an effort to recognize outstanding performers, looked for a way of rewarding hard-working students for their efforts The grading structure changed from superior and excellent to A’s and B’s. This placed much of the burden of recognizing academic talent on the high schools.
“What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning.” That’s what the senior United States Senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley once said. When students get a “F” on their exam, that does not necessary means they are stupid, or they do not know the material. It could only mean they have a different way of learning, or a different way of explaining the material which the teacher is not aware of. There are different ways of learning that students have, and there are different ways they apply their knowledge into real life. Therefore, grades are not the best way to judge the students’ standing in their classes, nor is it the best way to judge their learning process. In addition,
Although standardized testing is commonly used in most schools and educational intuitions nowadays, it does not measure a student’s intelligence. As such, standardized testing should be revoked because, not only is it an unreliable way of measuring a student’s performance, it also pressures educators and creates a grade conscious mindset. Schools should focus more on the development of students, rather than ranking them based on the grades they receive on a test. Not only are standardized tests an undependable way of grading, but also, it does not promote life skills the student will need when growing