Grades have made my life both good and bad. Because of grades, I was able to receive scholarships from college and demonstrate my knowledge of certain subjects. I was able to judge my strong points. However, grades have also made me lose scholarships. It depends on whether a teacher wants to see your thorough knowledge of a subject, or give 3 tests and a final exam.
Life might not be as organized if there were no grades. People would find it easier to cheat their way into occupations that they know nothing about. It would not divide people (smart people away from less-smart people). Grades to me are pretty much an award system, in which good grades result in a pat on the back, while bad grades result in a scolding.
Oooh, grades. What a great subject. My children are being schooled (if it can even be called that) without grades (except for the standardized tests that they will eventually have to take according to state law, unless we decide to find a way around those requirements). I think grades are pretty cruel, personally, especially at the extent to which they are used in public schools, to force young children to learn all at the same level and in the same way, and to punish or reward them accordingly. Grades are the way our society, supposedly a “classless society,” classifies people between winners and losers, those who get “the goods” and those who don’t.
There are so many other ways to learn than how schools ask us to learn. I don’t believe people need grades to know how they are doing. If they want them, fine, but if they don’t they should have the option to judge their performance using other standards, including their own. In fact, our own standards are the only ones that are really important. What is life if we are living to please everyone but ourselves? If we want to learn something, we will be motivated to do well. When we reduce performance to grades, then we end up in pursuit of nothing but grades, and the knowledge itself takes a low priority. We can get a good grade and then forget the material. This is what happens. We have the situation that we now have in which we only remember 10 percent of what we learn in school because grade-based education is so passive. We need active education, in which we learn simply for the sake of doing things we find important and rewarding. The grades we receive mean little to nothing in the long run.
I could go on forever about this!
Grades promote competition- they say people arent as good, as successful as others, sometimes their friends. it becomes all about beating people, not about cooperating with people and working with others, thinking outside the box. instead of remembering information and education, we remember that dreaded C or D, or 2.5 or 3.8 i’m a student at johnston center for integrative studies- i find evaluations are REALLY helpful especially if a student is planning on pursuing something as a career path. a 3.7 doesnt tell me my growth as an actor or where my strengths were in psychological counseling. an evaluation does. I can honestly say I would not be in college, nor successful in my academic pursuits if I was in the formalized education system.
ya know – i hate grades, don’t get me wrong. and i think all grades are subjective. but i don’t necessarily think that they should be banned. i think they do say stuff – i think there are some grades which i wouldn’t at all argue with because they came accompanied by appropriate remarks. however, there was that one D+ i got in college because my asshole TA didn’t think I answered “the implied questions” – fucking prick! on the whole, i think all of my grades thus far have been relatively fair and have helped me place myself within the context of my learning. i don’t think an evaluation can solely help me understand where i stand – seeing that i got a 62 helps me realize that i get it, but not enough to get a 70.
i don’t know – does that make sense? shit – i have to go to bed!
“People would find it easier to cheat their way into occupations that they know nothing about.” backthatbillup -
***people shouldn’t be getting jobs because of grades anyways. people cheat their way in by lying about experience, and it doesn’t take long to figure that out.
letters- i like your thoughts on grades destroying the idea of a classless society + grade based education being passive + self-judging outselves vs. grades
srsuper – i like that part about people remembering grades, and not knowledge (there’s a nice chunk of that in my book…where i go through all my classes, and show how what i still remember) plus…cool to hear that the only system of college you’d do is the eval system. not many would buck the grade trend like you
dara – i agree, it’s good to know how much you’re actually understanding, but grades are typically the end of learning. you know you don’t know 100%, but how often do you go back to get that 100%? evals are more personal, and might say, “you’re almost there,” instead of an impersonal 62, that psychologiaclly says, “you’re not quite perfect.” i think anyways…
Comments (5)
Grades have made my life both good and bad. Because of grades, I was able to receive scholarships from college and demonstrate my knowledge of certain subjects. I was able to judge my strong points. However, grades have also made me lose scholarships. It depends on whether a teacher wants to see your thorough knowledge of a subject, or give 3 tests and a final exam.
Life might not be as organized if there were no grades. People would find it easier to cheat their way into occupations that they know nothing about. It would not divide people (smart people away from less-smart people). Grades to me are pretty much an award system, in which good grades result in a pat on the back, while bad grades result in a scolding.
Oooh, grades. What a great subject. My children are being schooled (if it can even be called that) without grades (except for the standardized tests that they will eventually have to take according to state law, unless we decide to find a way around those requirements). I think grades are pretty cruel, personally, especially at the extent to which they are used in public schools, to force young children to learn all at the same level and in the same way, and to punish or reward them accordingly. Grades are the way our society, supposedly a “classless society,” classifies people between winners and losers, those who get “the goods” and those who don’t.
There are so many other ways to learn than how schools ask us to learn. I don’t believe people need grades to know how they are doing. If they want them, fine, but if they don’t they should have the option to judge their performance using other standards, including their own. In fact, our own standards are the only ones that are really important. What is life if we are living to please everyone but ourselves? If we want to learn something, we will be motivated to do well. When we reduce performance to grades, then we end up in pursuit of nothing but grades, and the knowledge itself takes a low priority. We can get a good grade and then forget the material. This is what happens. We have the situation that we now have in which we only remember 10 percent of what we learn in school because grade-based education is so passive. We need active education, in which we learn simply for the sake of doing things we find important and rewarding. The grades we receive mean little to nothing in the long run.
I could go on forever about this!
Grades promote competition- they say people arent as good, as successful as others, sometimes their friends.
it becomes all about beating people, not about cooperating with people and working with others, thinking outside the box.
instead of remembering information and education, we remember that dreaded C or D, or 2.5 or 3.8
i’m a student at johnston center for integrative studies- i find evaluations are REALLY helpful especially if a student is planning on pursuing something as a career path.
a 3.7 doesnt tell me my growth as an actor or where my strengths were in psychological counseling. an evaluation does.
I can honestly say I would not be in college, nor successful in my academic pursuits if I was in the formalized education system.
ya know – i hate grades, don’t get me wrong. and i think all grades are subjective. but i don’t necessarily think that they should be banned. i think they do say stuff – i think there are some grades which i wouldn’t at all argue with because they came accompanied by appropriate remarks. however, there was that one D+ i got in college because my asshole TA didn’t think I answered “the implied questions” – fucking prick! on the whole, i think all of my grades thus far have been relatively fair and have helped me place myself within the context of my learning. i don’t think an evaluation can solely help me understand where i stand – seeing that i got a 62 helps me realize that i get it, but not enough to get a 70.
i don’t know – does that make sense? shit – i have to go to bed!
“People would find it easier to cheat their way into occupations that they know nothing about.” backthatbillup -
***people shouldn’t be getting jobs because of grades anyways. people cheat their way in by lying about experience, and it doesn’t take long to figure that out.
letters- i like your thoughts on grades destroying the idea of a classless society + grade based education being passive + self-judging outselves vs. grades
srsuper – i like that part about people remembering grades, and not knowledge (there’s a nice chunk of that in my book…where i go through all my classes, and show how what i still remember) plus…cool to hear that the only system of college you’d do is the eval system. not many would buck the grade trend like you
dara – i agree, it’s good to know how much you’re actually understanding, but grades are typically the end of learning. you know you don’t know 100%, but how often do you go back to get that 100%? evals are more personal, and might say, “you’re almost there,” instead of an impersonal 62, that psychologiaclly says, “you’re not quite perfect.” i think anyways…