Grading philosophy

     Personally I think that grades are ridiculous. At least in some (most) circumstances, particularly in middle and high school. Way too many times I’ve heard a stressed middle school student complaining to their friend about how they just got an 72 on their test and now they’re gonna fail math and now their parents are going to kill them etc. Sound familiar? Same thing goes for high school. Isn’t the whole point of grades to tell you how you’re doing in class? So shouldn’t you, with that logic, know approximately what your grade will be even before you get your report card? And, if what really matters is how well you’re doing in class, should the actual letter grade even matter? No, it really shouldn’t. Yet if you asked most middle or high school students if they would rather have have grades or not have grades, I’ll bet that almost all of them would prefer no grades, even if they were still doing the same work. And why is that? Because things have become so warped that now people think that it’s the actual grade, the A or the B, or the C, that really matters. People seem to think that without grades, their life would be so much less stressful because they wouldn’t have to worry if they were getting an A or a C.

      I had a math teacher in high school that was amazing. Not only was she brilliant math-wise, she had exactly the right philosophy about grades and homework. We had homework, sure, loads of it, and of course we had tests, but the motive wasn’t “to get a good grade.” You forgot your homework at home or just didn’t do it? As long as you turned it in by the end of the quarter, you were fine. And tests? Most people got somewhere between a 40 and a 70. I remember getting an 85 and being absolutely ecstatic. But no, most of the grades in this class were not failing, as you might imagine. What determined your grade in this unusual class was if you really made an effort to fix things that needed fixing, to learn things that needed learning. If you showed the teacher that you knew what you were doing (to some extent at least), you would be all set. There were tests that people would redo multiple times, and even if you got every problem wrong on the homework the first time, if you fixed them that was all she cared about. But teachers like that are so rare.

     If students decided to go by this philosophy and care only how well they were doing in class, not about test scores (as long as they know what they’re doing, why should it matter if you got an 80 for not showing your work?) or grades on a report card, they would mostly likely see a drop in their grades, GPA, and chance of getting into college. What if you love a class because it’s interesting and challenging, but you’re getting a C in it? Well, you should change into an easier one (where you’ll be bored to death) so that you can get an A.

     The philosophy of so many teachers is just so twisted! If teachers would just think about what really matters and grade their students that way, I think that everyone would benefit. And as for the SAT’s, they shouldn’t be timed. Timed testing isn’t a particularly accurate representation of a students real knowledge. Timed testing is how well they work under pressure and how fast they can answer a problem. What if you’re a student that get mind blocks when you’re under pressure and take a long time to work things out, but are still brilliant? Ah well, what a shame. No good colleges for you.

Yes I am being a hypocrite– I got straight A’s for several years.

To any teachers out there– please forgive my rather intense ranting, but I just wanted to share my opinion (you’re still entitled to yours whether its the same as mine or not)

I do believe that things get better in college……. I mean really…. when will it ever matter what grade you got on your physics paper as long as you passed the class?

~ by mellowyellow on March 27, 2008.