Grading is very important in a student’s life. Countless of schools, colleges, and universities have begun to change the way they view and assess student scores. Glenbard North High School is among them. Within recent times, there has been a petition in motion for changing from the standard A, B, C, D and F grading system to the plain pass/fail system.While the pass/fail system has its advantages, the standard grading system shows that it is clearly the best way to measure the understanding of a student. For a start, the pass/fail system implements less of a stressor for students. Throughout their time in High School, teens are seen doing all that they can to receive the highest grade. As said in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “It’s troublesome to do right and ain’t no trouble to do …show more content…
Some might describe students on the pass/fail system as: “Well, it made me sick to see it; and I was sorry for them poor pitiful rascals” (Twain 230). Colleges could, in theory, accept a ‘passing’ student into an Ivy League university. If the passing student had a C in the standard scale, he, in return, will definitely have trouble working through the harder class. Equally, a passing student with an A on a standard scale may only be able to accepted into a community college or a less successful university because the schools don't understand how to interpret the pass/fail system. Huck says “Jim he allowed stars was made, but I allowed they happened” (Twain 118). Good grades only happen in the pass/fail system, but in the standard system, students earn their good grade. In other words, the standard A, B, C, D, and F system illustrates the best option. The standard system tends to motivate students to excel. In fact, the standard system rewards students, especially those who have good merit and notably do their best work. The standard system provides the best learning experience for students and
The current education system implemented by most schools measures a student’s progress using two methods: letter grades and standardized tests. However, the pressure put on students to achieve high grades causes standardized tests to be overlooked throughout the school year. Because of this, students enter tests with false hopes of scoring well when in reality they are severely underprepared. Honor roll students with perfect GPA’s can score in the average percentile if they are not adequately exposed to the test material. Schools should put a larger emphasis on preparation for standardized tests so students will be better equipped to take these tests and receive a score that more accurately reflects their knowledge.
In When Success Leads to Failure, Jessica Lahey is faced with a tough situation involving a student, whose love for learning is fading, and a parent who does not seem to understand why. Lahey establishes that parents are starting to teach children to fear failure, and the fear is what is destroying their love for learning (Lahey). I support Lahey’s proposition that kids are beginning to hate learning because children are taught that failure is not an option. In today’s society, many teachers and especially parents push children to only strive for success and to fear failure, which results in many children’s growing hatred for learning.
This idea is absurd! Our educational grading system is a scale of A, B, C, D, F with mastery being an A, average being an C, and complete failing being an F. What we would be saying to our students under his point is no matter how hard you work and how much effort you give something, if you can’t be perfect you are no better than a failure. How many students would there then be that feel like why even try? This would lead to more drop outs which is another alarming issue.
On each test instruction booklet handed to the teachers on test day, there is a section including what to do if a student throws up during a test. For this section to be included, it is obvious that testing has caused students in the past to stress themselves out to the point of being sick. Students are spend most of the year preparing to take one or two big tests in the end. The amount of pressure put on students to succeed on these tests is astronomical, making it impossible to focus on the actual goal of assessing their knowledge. A student in Florida spoke to her school board about the absurd expectations from these tests, “Every year I do good in school, but I get low test scores on the FCAP and it feels like a punch in the stomach. This is unfair and I don't want to lose my opportunity to take my advanced classes or get a better education because of this one test.” (Locker) 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 test 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
Colleges in America grade students academically for successful careers. For years students grades were calculate by an alphabetic/numeric grade scale. Today colleges are questioning whether grades should be determined by continuing to use a grade scale or switch to a pass/fail scale. Although, there were numerous of factors both positive and negative about a pass/fail system to take into consideration before making a decision. I feel that colleges in America should continue to use a grade scale to convey to students that grades have consequences, open doors to opportunity, and alleviates perturbation.
Standardized tests, such as the SAT and the SOL, have been implemented for many years now for individuals in grade school to take. The SOL’s, or Standards of Learning tests, are Virginia’s version of standardized tests that students are required to take in order to pass a class, evaluating their knowledge on a specific subject. SOL’s are mandatory for students to take as soon as they reach third grade. Additionally, the SAT is a test taken in the final years of high school that colleges look at when comparing students for post-secondary school. People concerned with student’s education can come to the common consensus that education is important and there should be some way to compare a student’s achievements to one another. However, the process
One of the issues, which Boyer points out , is that teachers and students have different expectations from college education. She says that the teachers are mainly concerned about students’ comprehension of the material, their attendance and attention while students’ hopes are to get good grades and to be well prepared for exams. It seems that the system of grading pushes students to not care too much about what is being taught from an understanding perspective, but only promotes more concern about grades instead. Some students don't really pay attention unless the instructor mentions an exam or something that will be graded. Furthermore, be...
On the contrary, there are better ways to determine if a student has a keen success in their education. According to a study conducted by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing observed that “students with higher high school GPAs performed better in college, regardless of drooping test scores in their records” (Brown 1). This research means that Standardized Testing
Getting into college requires students to make an assured grade on a standardized test called the American College Test. High school students begin in kindergarten preparing for tests; to make it to the next level you have to score a certain score. Pressure is forced upon many students when they begin sophomore year and begin to ponder the thoughts of college and life after high school. Once they have planned out their school, major, and work life after college, the school counselor plans a meeting to discuss the ACT. Students begin to be worried and anxious about grades and tests; all of these stressed students do not realize they have been passing test after test to score a good enough grade to get into college, where they will begin to take test after test to graduate college and even after college, these students will still be tested within their workforce.
Mark W. Durm stated that, “it was not until 1792 that Cambridge University implemented the GPA and started the legitimate grading system” (2). In the 18th century, teachers were paid based on the sizes of their classrooms. Over time, the grading policy adapted to lessen teacher’s workloads, allowing them to have bigger classes. Due to this structure, the students’ success became less important than the grading system. The system used before the GPA was more advantageous than the newly implemented system. For example, more students interacted with each other, causing the students to learn important communication skills. The students’ level of friendly competition and understanding in the classroom was enough for the teacher to grasp that the students understood the material (gpa-calculator.us). The GPA grading system changed learning because it made grading easier for teachers to assign points and a grade, rather than making sure the students understood the concepts. This is why students today solely obsess over getting an ‘A’, rather than appreciating how to obtain knowledge for the sake of individual growth and understanding. By the 20th century, most schools in the United States had conformed to the GPA grading system and introduced a whole new structure of
The current grading system should be upgraded, and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading. 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 in 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.
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
By nature, most students are brought up in an academic environment motivated to get A’s and B’s on their report cards. Those grades sometimes don’t thoroughly report how much a student has learned or gained knowledge in each topic. Some instructors throw in factors totally unrelated to learning, when the main objective of academic institutions is to learn. In order to clearly demonstrate how much a student has learned in the classroom, schools should change their current grading system and teach students how to learn.
There is a recent trend in North American primary and secondary education systems in which schools are adopting policies which eliminates the possibility of students to receive a mark of zero or in some cases, being issued a failing grade at all. These no-fail, or minimum grading policies, also referred to as ZAPs (Zeros Aren’t Permitted), have garnered as much support as they have opposition. Recognizing that not all students are able to succeed in the traditional educational system, no-fail policies are designed around the students’ self-esteem. These policies use a multitude of grading practices which allows for, or encourages, a student to succeed. Minimum grading practices generally allow for students to achieve an established minimum grade through a variety of different means designed to keep a student engaged in their studies. The positive impact to the social and emotional well-being of a student educated in a no-fail environment is undeniable; a student will gain confidence and be encouraged to continue to try even if they failed on previous attempts. Opponents of these no-fail policies argue that these programs do not adequately prepare students for life beyond grade school, where failure can have immediate and serious results. Most post-secondary institutions do not advocate no-fail education systems and most employers will find the performance of an employee who does not complete assignments to be unacceptable and fit for termination. As beneficial to the confidence of a student as a no-fail environment is, these programs pose a greater disservice to the same student in their education as well as later in life. No-fail policies can lead to students falling further behind in their education and encourage an indifference...
Students entering college for the first time look forward to the numerous tests that they are required to take least of all. Test taking and college are in tandem for many, but some debate that using testing as a grading system should be discontinued in universities. In theory it sounds like a great idea. It would cut back on stress and, more than likely, class time as well. However, stopping testing as a form of grading in universities would be soon regretted. Grading systems are an essential part of any education. Tests insure that that the student is learning what the teaching is teaching and identify areas that may need improving. The results from grading systems also show future employers or schools a glimpse of the kind of worker that a student will be. The numerous lists of positive effects on not only the students but the teachers, and even the university as a whole, outweigh the cons of using testing as a grading system.