I have been debating the issue of the the importance of grades with
other educators in both high school and at the university for about five years
now. And it still continues...
Are grades all that important? They are just letters assigned to assignments, test or projects that reflect a one time occurrence.
Where does actual
learning come into play? Any average-skilled cheater can achieve A's or
B's in class and learn very little but how to cheat a little bit
better.
Is learning important to students at all or is school all
about grades. I understand that GPA and class rank, ACT and SAT scores,
and other grade-related information is important, but shouldn't the emphasis be on what students have learned and how they can use that learning.
What
good is an A in calculus if you haven't learned the skills needed to
pass a college algebra course. It is not hard to get an A- with a little
skill, help from the teacher or classmates and some effort, anyone can do
it. But it is the application of those supposedly learned skills that
really brings the learning accomplished to light.
Colleges and universities must now offer remedial
classes to ensure that high school graduates are up to average in the skills that are
lacking, especially in math, reading and writing. How can a student who received
a B in writing courses in high school, need remedial classes when in
college? Where is the learning that was supposed to take place? With
grade inflation and watered-down curriculum, no wonder learning is not occurring.
I
realize that change must begin from the top (the real work world and
then colleges and universities) and trickle down, but when will that happen? Is the
education world so caught up in NCLB
legislation and teaching to the test that we have forgotten about real
learning? I am afraid that this debate will be around long after I have
left the teaching world.. How sad!!!!
3 comments:
I think that school right now is all about grades and doesn’t focus on giving their students the ability to apply what they supposedly learned in the real world. Schools should not focus as much on giving students tests all the time and focus on helping us apply them to real world problems that we may face when we become adults. This will help us as we grow up and actually have to face the problems that the school helped us learn how to solve it. Schools should figure this out and apply them to their curriculum.
I think the extreme focus on grades can not be good for any student. I think it is the biggest cause of anxiety about tests, if it wouldn't be just about getting a good grade, students would not have to worry about it as much, and they could make this test feeling calm and not worried. I talked about this with a teacher in my Dutch school who provided lessons to help students with anxiety when it comes to tests. She agreed with me that testing for grades brings out the worst in many students. If it was about ability and not just about the grades, if tests were just for teachers to check if the students understood what they would have been teaching for the past week, students wouldn't have any need to cheat. Because it would be okay not to understand completely what is going on. I think that if their had to be any type of grading in high school, it should be for doing homework, trying your best on tests, paying attention in class and knowing what's going on.
I feel that our school focuses too much on grades this time of year and we should really try and change that so kids don't have nervous breakdowns because they feel as if they are going to get a B in a class or maybe even just barely pass the class. I really wish our school would also take the time to show us how to apply the skills they are teaching us and put them into the real world because once we graduate high school the real world will be right there to get us and if we are not prepared enough it can be very disastrous in some cases. I guess I just really wish we would focus more on learning the skill then the grade we receive on the test we take over it.
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