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Alfie Kohn discussed multiple fabulous points in his article, “Degrading to De-Grading”. The author suggests more effective ways to assess students’ progress other than numerical or letter grades. Kohn goes into detail about why our current grading system is flawed. Grades can cause students to lose interest in learning which causes them to stop taking challenges. If students are not engaged and interested than they are not retaining the information they are being taught. The grading system can also cause students to develop unhealthy competition with one another for instance, “I got a better grade than you!”. Indeed, grades are a wonderful concept, but they tend to be more hurtful than helpful. In some cases, grades can have positive effects on students. For example, setting goals for various assignments, or receiving help where they are struggling. Though, there are alternatives that could make positive changes in the system.

It has been scientifically proven that grades are one of the many stressors that can cause discouragement in a student's mind, so why does the education system use it? In Michael Thomsen’s article, “The Case Against Grades” he puts it in a student’s point of view and argues about the grading system. He says that “[t]hey lower self-esteem, discourage creativity, and reinforce the class divide.” All these factors can lower student’s self-esteem issues, discourage creativity, and reinforce class division. If you ask any student what makes them stress they will definitely say “school.” Thomsen continues

Historically, letter grades have served as a tool to rate educational intelligence. By looking at the progression of a student’s grades over time, people are able to determine whether or not the students are developing skills in certain areas. Using a one letter grade to determine progress has received many critiques as a common system used in America’s education. Critics claim letter grades cause students motivation and creativity to decrease because grades shift students focus from learning the material to obtaining a good grade.

Evergreen State College implements a no-grading policy, “taking out the stress of grades and GPA” (Pippin 351). Instead, the institution uses narrative evaluations to assess how students are doing (Pippin 351). That way, whenever someone looks at a transcript from this college, he or she sees that “Mary excels in interpersonal relationships and understands the relationships between X and Y” instead of “Mary made an A in the class.” Texas should follow the ideas of Evergreen State College, eliminating the need of grades and the anxiety of performing with success. The no-grade policy links to “collaborative learning and a way of thinking about learning” (Pippin 351). By phasing out the idea of a grading system, students can not only perform stress-less and anxiety-free, students can also appreciate the value of learning because the pressure to learn subsides. Numbers can only show so much. The response, feedback, and suggestions provide a far more valuable insight behind the

Have you ever gotten an A on a test before? Were you happy or excited? How would you feel If that grade was replaced by a number? This is what Standards Based Grading is doing to schools. While some will say SBG is helpful and less threatening than traditional grading, they are wrong. SBG is more harmful than helpful because letter grades are more precise, letter grades give more motivation, and collages are harder to get into with SBG.

As a student in university, grades are very important to me because high grade or passing grade shows that I am passing my courses. Grades are very essential to me because passing my courses with passing guarantee my success in college. In the reading, “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Dispute” by Max Roosevelt, this reading talks about the different views of earning students grade in courses/classes. According in reading, Mr. Greenwood state that the professors/teachers should grade the students based on their efforts to accomplish assignment. In the same reading, Dean Hogge argued that professor shouldn’t be blame of students low grade in their courses/classes. Students work hard to earn the grade, some professor gives syllabi to

The scourge of seven seas that is education is the nationwide practice of grading. The initial purpose of the practice known as grading was to measure a student's level of success involving taught subjects. However, over time it has evolved into a different animal altogether and has sparked controversy in the minds of those under its influence. In one essay titled, “A Young Person's Guide to the Grading System,” Professor Jerry Farber states his thoughts on the imperfect practice. Within the paragraphs, he outlines the effects of the grading system on students and a possible solution to the situation. Over the course of the essay, I agree with his explanation of the effects that grades have on the student's’ mind,

Of all the problems we have in our education system, grading is the most misunderstood. Alfie Kohn reinforces the idea that grades have a negative impact on students,in his essay from “Degrading to De-grading”, by stating that grades encourage students to take the “easy way”, by taking the least challenging courses. Another point Kohn makes is that students’ learning is negatively affected by grades because the students only recite the information for the test. After the teachers test the information the students just “learned”, the information becomes irrelevant to the student.The students quickly forgot the information and never really learn it. Not only do grades harm the student, but also the teacher. Grades harm

First of all, letter grades give specific feedback on how well students are doing on their assignments. Pass or fail systems only offers two options, while letter grades provide 5 levels of achievements “to pinpoint a student's work ethic and comprehension”(Morgan). With 5 levels, grading is more accurate and it also shows the areas of weaknesses and areas that have improved better. In a letter grading system, an A or C grade can differentiate an excellent student from an average one. With a pass or fail grade students are only put into two categories, average or better and below average. When students are given specific feedback with letter grades students know if they’re on the

Do students feel that education can take a toll on their life mentally and physically? Sometimes students feel that their diligent work and commitment is insufficient to do well in school. At times students cannot keep up with the standard expectations of education particularly with grades. Grading point averages and grades decides the eventual fate of a student. Education is based upon a positioning arrangement of lettering evaluations that as far as anyone knows shows on the off chance that you are learning and precisely the amount you are learning. Holy Family’s university grading system is unfair and it plays a negative role in the lives of students affecting students’ GPAs and their hope of the future drastically. No student should have to suffer from an unjust grading system that makes students feel less savvy than they really are.

This effort based grading compares students to students rather than students to the standards. A New York Times article written by Adam Grant says, “The goal [of Common Core] is to fight grade inflation, but the forced curve suffers from two serious flaws. One: it arbitrarily limits the number of students who can excel [...] [Two: it] create[s] an atmosphere that’s toxic by pitting students against one another” (Grant). Standards are set for a reason: to determine whether or not students can achieve what they must achieve to be college ready after twelve years of schooling. When teachers begin to curve tests and offer additional incentives to build a student’s grade up, they’re essentially ignoring the fact that the student may not completely understand the topic. In a personal interview with Champlin-Brooklyn Park Academy Assistant Principal, Kimberly Nelson, it was stated, “regular course testing should be graded like standardized testing; compare students to the proficiency standard, not students to students” (Nelson). In support of this statement, two economists, “Pradeep Dubey and John Geanakoplos[,] concluded” through study and analysis of grading systems, “a forced grade curve is a disincentive to study. ‘Absolute grading is better than grading on a curve’” (Grant). In other words, students neglect additional studying, assuming their grade to be already

In the article “Letter from the Editor-in-Chief: Are Grades a Necessary Evil?”(No.2, 2013) the author Russell L. Herman emphasizes our attention to the question about necessity of grades as an indicator of the true efforts among students. Russell L. Herman compares the different thoughts of teachers about this statement: some instructors against the grade system because they think that students should come to class in the purpose to learn something, not to have higher grades. Other instructors identify grades as an indicator of educational level. Furthermore, the author support the idea that grades show real “efforts, practice, and improvement” of students, however, Russell L. Herman calls to understanding that grades is not indicator

Flaws in current grading policies prove that the use of the report card as a means of measuring student achievement must be revised. Report cards are much too vague; they do not allow parents and students to truly understand how a student is performing. There is some idea of what is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ grade, but what does it mean? The amount of value given to these letters also promotes students to have an unhealthy obsession with them. The only way to break free from these issues is to implement a new grading system.

Choosing which type of system I would have gots me stuck in between the two, I can see good from both sides of the argument. But with every argument there's one side that appeals to me more than the other and that has to be the A-F grading system. That's what we have been using for so long, I just feel like it should stay that way because it's what most people are use too. You could pass a class with a D and you would still pass it, even though that is not advised. Although if it comes down to it you have that at least while with pass/fail you would fail either way.

Teachers have always used grades to measure the amount a student has learned. This practice is becoming ineffective. Many students have a wide range of grades, which show that grades may not show what a student really knows. Therefore, the standard grading system should be replaced. Some reasons why grades should be replaced are bad grades can hinder a child’s performance, grades define who a student is in the classroom, and grades are not an effective way to see if students have learned the material. The current grading system should be upgraded and every school should incorporate the plus/minus system in their method of grading.