Wednesday, November 18, 2015
The Problem with the Academic Grading System
During the class symposium discussion, the topic concerning the purpose of the educational grading system was introduced. Most people in the class seemed to agree with the argument that grades interfered with the intrinsic motivation to learn. I share the majority opinion in regards to this topic in that when classes place an emphasis on grades, we are only motivated to perform well in the class for the sake of that grade and not for the sake of learning. Marx would likely agree that this interferes with the process of learning, because grades interfere with something that should be a free and conscious activity; however, as we have all experienced, even learning is not free. My dilemma is this: Most of us agreed that the ultimate reward from attending university is the education we are receiving, so why did so many people oppose the hypothetical scenario in the class that involved everyone receiving an A? My honest opinion is neutral. Someone who learns nothing from the class and receives an A is no better off than someone who simply does not receive a college education. However, I think a lot of people opposed this scenario because how else would we compare one another (i.e., how would we know who the best in the class is?). Someone also brought up the very valid point that grades are a poor predictor of intellect; however, I have a hard time disagreeing with the statement that grades are a good predictor of someone’s motivation to achieve. I am also interested to know why some people very adamantly claim that others would stop trying to learn if there were no grades. I think agreeing with that statement requires a person to also completely reject the most basic human need---the need to know.
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I believe that grades are a poor indicator of intellect, and I do agree with your statement about grades showing a person's motivation to achieve. If a person cares about their grade, they are going to try their best to maintain a certain average. I also agree that we preform well in class for a grade, but not for learning. Majority of people only care about passing the class. They don't care about having the top grade and more. As far as a person still wanting to learn after they receive an A, I think that depends on the person. Do they find the class interesting? Will the class benefit them in the future? If yes, then that person will still want to learn.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post Andrea and I was also wondering about the statement that people would not try to learn if grades were nonexistent. I do believe that people would not put very much effort into learning if grades did not exist; however, they would at least still try to learn. On another note, the fact that so much depends on grades is causing mental harm for students. There are many students that are suffering from anxiety because they are concerned that their grades are affecting their scholarship(s), passing a class, or entering into grad school. Simply put, grades literally drives students mad. I remember reading a story about a successful college student (also the star of her track team) who committed suicide because she was worried about her grades: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/upenn-track-star-jumps-death-philadelphia-article-1.1585337 .
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! However, I believe most people would stop learning the material if we did not have grades because they would not have the motivation to do put in the effort. Lets face it, people these days do not do anything they are not required to do. Personally, I would feel relieved if I did not have to worry about grades and I would still learn the material. The importance of our grades also cause a great amount of stress for students when it normally does not accurately measure a student's achievement.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post, Andrea. I also agree that grades are a poor measure of intellect. I think that grades could be a measure of motivation, but that may not be 100% accurate. There are many people in the school system who are failing, not because they're truly unmotivated or not smart, but because they are bad test takers, have trouble focusing when being taught a certain way, etc. I think this is due to the average class size being too large and the methods for showing whether students have retained what they have been taught (taking tests, writing papers, answering problems in the book) are designed to help only those who are already skilled at performing those tasks. I feel like like the student would benefit if the classes were made smaller and teachers were able to take a more personal approach with their students to find out how they learn best. I'm aware that this is not a possible task at the moment, but maybe in the future we'll see an education reform.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is truly our upbringing that causes us to have such an attachment to grades. It's getting awards for making the Dean's list and thinking that either graduate schools or employers can view our hard work concretely. I completely agree that there is a better way to gage intelligence besides someone's GPA. Many people, myself included, can make good grades and completely forget the material. What's even more troubling is that there are universities in the West that have removed grades from their curriculum but many are hesitant to go to those Universities. How do they judge you as a student? What would our transcripts look like? I think that the fact that there are people that go to these universities and are successful is proof that there is a better way for people to learn. I think that people can absolutely continue learning without grades. I just think that people are scared to try.
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