Flaws in the Grading System

Steven Spielberg has directed many movies like Jaws, E.T., and Saving Private Ryan . He applied for college three times but was unable to become accepted due to his low GPA (EduChoices.org). In today’s generation in order to be accepted into college students are required [to have] certain scores on standardized tests, high GPA’s from high school, and money. Colleges use these numbers to predict how well a student is potentially going to do. They are basing smartness off of grades. Howard Gardner and Benjamin Bloom have developed The Learning Pyramid and believe there are seven types of intelligences. One type of intelligence is logical-mathematical, and another is linguistic. Logic deals with problem solving and mathematics, while linguistic deals with writing (Stephen’s Lighthouse ). These are the only two intelligences being tested out of seven by GPA’s and Standardized tests. The grading system for United States middle schools and high schools does not provide an accurate assessment of smartness and has been a deterrent. Not only the government and administrations of school are responsible for following this system, but teachers and students are just as responsible.

Teachers must be held responsible to focus on equality in the grading system otherwise they risk corruption in grading from bias judgments. They subconsciously grade on attitude.

According to Peg Tyre’s, A’s for Good Behavior, a newspaper article, she says, “About 10 percent of the students who earned A’s and B’s in school stumbled during end-of-the-year exams. By contrast, about 10 percent of students who scraped along with C’s, D’s and even F’s — students who turned in homework late, never raised their hands and generally seemed turned off ...

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...for power, and failure to partake in risk taking. Overall, grades only hinder one’s education instead of fairly assessing students. Society is convinced that smartness is measured on how well you take tests. Actual knowledge is how well you retain the information over a long period of time. Referring back to Howard Gardner and Benjamin Bloom’s The Learning Pyramid, an individual remembers 5% from a lecture, 10% from reading, 20% from audiovisual, 30% from demonstration, 50% from discussion, 75% from practicing doing the activity, and lastly you remember 90% of what you learn when you teach other people. It seems the grading system only gets in the way of students’ learning processes. The pressure of grades is simply a tool of power rather than an evaluation to see how students are doing. Removing the grading system will only bring benefits to the table.