I have always valued school and learning; I get a sense of pride from getting a good grade on a paper or on a particular assignment. Alfie Kohn wrote an essay titled “From Degrading to De-grading”; in it he suggests a different view on the current education system. Even though students expect grades and even seem dependent on them, grading should spur on a love of studying not deter it. Grades tend to reduce a student’s inclination for stimulating tasks, and lessens students’ interest in learning itself. According the three main effects of grading outlined in Kohn’s paper, the number one effect is: “grades tend to reduce students interest in being taught.” I would agree with his argument grading and testing puts pressure on getting good grades and takes the focus off understanding and on “performing” well. When I was younger I was ferocious reader lately the only reading I do is required for a class or studying a textbook. It was something I loved doing, I wasn’t required to read all the books I read because I had a genuine love for reading and words. Because of that, I would score above grade level in English. …show more content…
I had a remarkable teacher named Robin Furnish. Each we week had to do mini speeches. Initially I put a lot of work into my speeches, and I wanted them to perfect. A few weeks into the school year, I started to realize I could get away with doing little, and still get an A. Slowly, but surely the quality of the work I was doing lessened. Kohn states the second outcome of grading is “Grades tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.” I agree his point I knew I was able to complete the work in half the time and still do well in her class, so I stopped
Most students, like Alyssa, study and try their ultimate best to get the highest grade. However, once in awhile, students’ efforts fall short of their goal, and punishment leads to health problems and deteriorating relationships. Punishing their efforts send a negative signal, saying, “Your efforts are getting you nowhere.” Consequently, students feel as if their absolute best is worthless and believe in the pressure from their parents. Responses to this notion vary,
In his essay, "Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s,” Staples claims that student grades are increasing for the wrong reasons, causing college degrees to become meaningless. Staples provides evidence that average grades have increased significantly over the last several decades, but claims that it is not because students are working harder. The real explanation for grade inflation, he argues, is the effect of grades on both students and their professors. Teachers give more A’s to receive better evaluations and increase job security. Students give more importance to their grades as a result of the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. Staples argues that modern
“Making the Grade” by Kurt Wiesenfeld Newsweek magazine, June 27 1996 brings to light an issue that has been glazed over by society for some time, grade inflation. It’s highly disturbing that “we lament that schoolchildren get “kicked upstairs” until they graduate from high school despite being illiterate and mathematically inept, but we seem unconcerned with college graduates whose less blatant deficiencies are far more harmful, if their accreditation exceeds their qualifications”. The issue of grade inflation is not simply an issue of students feeling entitled to higher grades than they have earned, it is a problem that directly impacts our society in a multitude of negative ways. Perhaps the “gold star” mentality started out with the good intentions of creating children with positive self-esteem, however, a direct result is lazy adults with a sense of entitlement for no reason, who lack qualifications to adequately and safely perform their jobs.
In “Grades and Money,” Steven Vogel makes it clear that he is disappointed and frustrated with what grades have become. He believes that grades have become commoditized and that students’ grades suffer because of their relation with money. Vogel also believes that students no longer take any risk with their education. I agree with Vogel that grades are being equated to money by students, that students’ work suffers because of grades, and that students no longer take risks in their educational process.
Within the walls of our educational system lie many adverse problems. Is there a solution to such problems? If so, what is the solution? As we take a look at two different essays by two different authors’ John Gatto and Alfie Kohn, both highlight what’s wrong within our educational system in today’s society. As John Gatto explores the concept if schools are really as necessary as they’re made out to be; Alfie Kohn analyzes the non-importance of letter grades within our schools. Although both essays are fairly different, they still pose some similarities in relation to the educational system in today’s society.
In “What is a Grade” by Pat Belanoff, she explains the pros and cons of the grading system. In Pats ' essay she states “Perhaps the solution would to abandon grading altogether in writing class. I confess that this a solution that appeals to me greatly.” (151). Grades should not be present in the way we test students’ learning ability. School seems to be more about learning the material for a brief moment just to get a good grade rather then to actually learn and think about the information being presented.
Our education system is failing and in his essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” Carl Singleton writes that nothing else will right the ship or fix this issue except for his proposed solution which is to simply fail more students. As a matter of fact “by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions” (Singleton 1) is how he describes the failing grades should be distributed. He claims that illegitimately passing students has existed for the past two decades and even implies that it stems further back than that with many teachers in the school system today “who never should have been certified in the first place.”(Singleton 1).
Once a person graduates from law school, before they can begin working as a lawyer they have to take a test called the Bar. The test is not graded with A’s; B’s, C’s, D’s, or F’s and instead is graded by the pass-fail system. Once the test is graded it shows that the person either passed the Bar or failed the Bar. What is important with the Bar is that persons passes which indicates the competency of their understanding of the material to use it in the real world. Whereas the current letter grading system shows who understood the material. The pass-fail system should also be implemented in all U.S. high schools, this revolutionary idea that is practical in nature would benefit students because letter grades can cause unneeded stress and do not accurately measure the practical knowledge and intelligence level of students.
The Consequences of Grade Inflation When students arrive at university, professors expect them to understand the material to an exceptional standard. The problem is that grade inflation is occurring more regularly in secondary schools and universities across the country and when these students’ marks are sent to universities or colleges, the student may be given multiple scholarships for something that he/she should not have earned. Grade inflation is conceived between both students and teachers, meaning that the students are given higher grades when they have inadequate learning, reading, and verbal skills, while the teachers do not have to grade as many papers as they should in the real curriculum. There have been multiple examinations that have confirmed that grade inflation is very real and still occurs today. Students seem to think that they do not need to put forth much effort in school to do well, and grade inflation encourages this thought.
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
Homework is a critical part of the educational process; however, it is crucial to consider balance when determining how much homework to assign. The negative perception of homework is fairly universal among students. However, in recent years, homework has escalated from “just one of those things” that people complain about to a bigger issue. A 2011 study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that on average, students spend 6.8 hours on homework per week outside of school (Source A). If you consider that this average represents the apex of the bell curve for grades 9 through 12, regardless of course rigor, it is easy to see that those students concerned with receiving higher grades in more rigorous courses will
What happens when students hear this new mode of grading and stop trying? What is the challenge of going to school and working hard, if they do not have to make sure they get all of their school work done to pass? Teachers will not need to try so hard to get their lecture through to their audience. Although allowing the no zero rule helps children in many ways, it hurts them in more ways. In society there are no grading scales, no one is going to give these young students an easy pass. If they cannot do what they are supposed to do in their career, then they will fail. These students need to understand the meaning of working hard to achieve in school, so they understand what it will be like with a job, or family. Most jobs run on a pass or fail scale. It is easy to think that changing the grading scale is what the students need, and that this will give parents what they are looking for to stop the children from dropping out of
Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.
When students have easier grading criteria, it increases their ability to learn the material instead of focusing on earning better grades without understanding the material. Students sometimes need grading criteria that will allow them to focus on their studying more than focusing on how they will be able to pass their classes with good grades that will not affect their GPA’s. For example, I have taken many classes throughout my college career such as Psychology, Philosophy, and Statistics, some of them I need as major requirements. I took the classes and I have no idea until this moment what I have learned in those classes. As said, I have learned the material for these classes to pass the exams, and forget what I have learned the day after the exam. In this case, I do not blame myself that I have not learned the material as I have to, because I learned it to pass the class with a good grade instead of passing the class with the
One change institutions should make to the grading system is to eliminate all factors that have noting to do with learning outcomes from affecting the students’ grade. According to the article, “Assessment of Learning Outcomes: What’s the difference?” written by Carnegie Mellon University, grades are often based on more than learning outcomes. Instructors usually include factors unrelated to learning outcomes such as attendance to class, participation, improvement and in some cases, grades are boosted a bit due to how hard the student is working.” These factors are