The Problems With American Schools' Grading System

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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 (Where the Rich and Famous…). 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 judge grades and connect to future success. 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 (Learning Pyramid). 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 achievement and has been a deterrent. Teachers become a deterrent by grading students using bias judgments. Teachers must be held responsible to focus on equality of all students otherwise they risk corruption. Their judgments cause incorrect assessments of students. This degrades the grading system. Teachers 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 by school — did better than the... ... middle of paper ... ...lf-esteem fluctuation which promotes cheating. Students who cheat do not understand the information. So, grades deter from understanding and learning information. The grading system for United States middle schools and high schools does not provide an accurate assessment of achievement and has been a deterrent to a students’ self-esteem, ability in understanding material, and position compared to others. Overall, grades only hinder one’s education instead of fairly assessing students. Actual knowledge is how well you retain the information over a long period of time. 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 get rid of the disadvantages only bringing benefits to the table.

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