To Grade or Not to Grade?
“The real threat to excellence is not grade inflation at all; it is grades.” –Alfie Kohn, The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation Sullen-eyed, sleepless zombies stagger throughout the endless corridors. Their minds remain blank, except for their one goal: the biggest, juiciest brains. These brains are what they live for. They would do anything for them. The one issue is that they are not zombies at all. They are twenty-first century students.
I was a student failed by the education system. When I say that, what comes to mind? A drop-out? A lethargic student who only cares about their social life? I am sure it is not a straight A student. What is the worth in being a student at the top of …show more content…
The Journal of Effective Teaching by Russell Herman states, “Setting high standards leads to a trust in the professional we count on such as doctors, nuclear engineers, chemists working with drugs, bridge engineers, and teachers.” This is true. Society does need some way of telling whether people know what they are doing. No one wants a doctor to stick a syringe in their arm just after admitting it is their first time doing such a thing. Despite this, the quote exemplifies a logical fallacy. Most students will admit that they are not actually learning anything. They just memorize information for a test, forget it, and then cram for the next …show more content…
Society today is tremendously competitive. It is necessary to go to college just to be eligible for a job with a living wage. No longer does it guarantee a job for anyone. A competitive society can motivate people to work harder for things, but a competitive society can also have the opposite effect. As mentioned in the book, The Growth Mindset, teachers often select who will do well and who will not right off the bat. Due to this, teachers will give up on the students who are lacking and therefore, do not provide those students with an equal opportunity to succeed. Focusing more on the belief everyone can thrive instead of turning it into a competition could result in less students just getting lost on the way. Struggling students just need people to believe in their abilities and the same opportunities as a student who seems to be a “natural” at what they do.
The competition attached to a grading system can motivate students to work harder and provide a simple way of telling who did well in school, but grades can also cause certain students to lose motivation to try at all. An ungraded system, such as the one mentioned earlier, encourages actual learning of the curriculum instead of just memorization. Overall, what works best varies from student to student, but both systems would have to be implemented for a true
“The real threat to excellence is not grade inflation at all; it is grades.” –Alfie Kohn, The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation Sullen-eyed, sleepless zombies stagger throughout the endless corridors. Their minds remain blank, except for their one goal: the biggest, juiciest brains. These brains are what they live for. They would do anything for them. The one issue is that they are not zombies at all. They are twenty-first century students.
I was a student failed by the education system. When I say that, what comes to mind? A drop-out? A lethargic student who only cares about their social life? I am sure it is not a straight A student. What is the worth in being a student at the top of …show more content…
The Journal of Effective Teaching by Russell Herman states, “Setting high standards leads to a trust in the professional we count on such as doctors, nuclear engineers, chemists working with drugs, bridge engineers, and teachers.” This is true. Society does need some way of telling whether people know what they are doing. No one wants a doctor to stick a syringe in their arm just after admitting it is their first time doing such a thing. Despite this, the quote exemplifies a logical fallacy. Most students will admit that they are not actually learning anything. They just memorize information for a test, forget it, and then cram for the next …show more content…
Society today is tremendously competitive. It is necessary to go to college just to be eligible for a job with a living wage. No longer does it guarantee a job for anyone. A competitive society can motivate people to work harder for things, but a competitive society can also have the opposite effect. As mentioned in the book, The Growth Mindset, teachers often select who will do well and who will not right off the bat. Due to this, teachers will give up on the students who are lacking and therefore, do not provide those students with an equal opportunity to succeed. Focusing more on the belief everyone can thrive instead of turning it into a competition could result in less students just getting lost on the way. Struggling students just need people to believe in their abilities and the same opportunities as a student who seems to be a “natural” at what they do.
The competition attached to a grading system can motivate students to work harder and provide a simple way of telling who did well in school, but grades can also cause certain students to lose motivation to try at all. An ungraded system, such as the one mentioned earlier, encourages actual learning of the curriculum instead of just memorization. Overall, what works best varies from student to student, but both systems would have to be implemented for a true