Penrod argues that intellectuals crave for compliments, which is incorrect. “This instance finds plentiful company in the experiences of everyday life; intellectuals constantly see their efforts trivialized in the rush to lavish compliments elsewhere” (Penrod 754). This piece of information lacks credibility. Smart kids are praised for being the way they are, just not everybody in society is recognizing it.
In sports, investigators utilize individual records or diversion measurements to analyze competitors. In this manner, groups utilize those estimations make discovering players a great deal less demanding. In like manner, grades measure an understudy's capacities, qualities, and shortcomings in the classroom. In Paul Goodman's passage entitled "A Proposal to Abolish Grading," he contends that Ivy alliance Universities ought to annul grades. His reasons are that understudies organize tests instead of discover significance to new learning. In the event that evaluations are canceled understudies will have the capacity to take in the material without the anxiety. Despite the fact that Goodman unequivocally concentrates on renowned schools, is an issue that worries each school. For it makes one wonder if grades are truly essential to quantify an understudy's capacity to learn. Goodman trusts that the present understudies will just do what is insignificantly required for them to pass their class. From my own understanding, understudies that are staggeringly decided and discover reason in acquiring new information are the ones with the most noteworthy imprints. I trust that understudies that apparent in classes they don't discover agreeable have a superior possibility of getting acknowledged into great schools and employments. It is as though the individual is stating " I will pick up anything and exceed expectations at it." what's more, educators can utilize evaluations to select
Whether we realize it or not, test scores play a vital role in many people’s self esteem. A person who frequently scores high will be confident that they are very intelligent and will expect others to see them that way. Asimov attested to this when he stated, “All my life I’ve been registering scores like that, so that I have the complacent feeling that I’m highly intelligent, and I expect other people to think that too.” (Asimov, 536). On the other hand, those who score low on tests often write themselves off to be unintelligent. Emphasis on the importance of the ACT or SAT test scores can lead an adolescent to conclude that he or she is not capable of succeeding in college and lead them to not pursue higher education. The tragedy is that we may pass on opportunities because we have labelled ourselves unintelligent based on a test score which is not a true refelection of our
To counter the constant negativity, he also exemplifies solutions for fixing grade inflation. For example, Brent Staples references Valen Johnson’s proposal for a grade point average reform that accounts the selected major into the grade point average system (389). With this example, the reform will significantly decrease the median grade point average and reward those who achieve high grades in courses related to their respective major. Behind this positive message, Brent Staples still criticizes college administrators for prioritizing their public image over a legitimate grading system without the complaining tone in the majority of his essay. Furthermore, Brent Staple’s examples do solve an actual issue and not a phantom problem. In 1975 alone, there was over tens times more bachelors in psychology than there were available jobs for them (Bird 424). Because the current grading system allows for counterfeit grade point averages, there are an excessive number of psychology bachelors. Brent Staples provided solutions because this issue proves his criticisms in
Self-control is a lesson easier taught by life experiences rather than words. Watching my grandpa gulp down four to five beers daily showed the type of self control that took me so long to realize existed. He was an alcoholic. He knew it and would own up to his decisions every time the topic was brought up.
They say that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, yet I tend to disagree. Our world is packed full of things to be afraid of. As a child, we are afraid of the dark or monsters hiding underneath our beds; but, as we grow with wisdom and age, those fears become bigger and more worldly. We fear things like terrorism or illness. The fear that consumes me most is that my best might never be enough.
“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. 'Good pride' represents our dignity and self-respect. “'Bad pride' is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance”
Overcoming my timidness may not seem like such an important deed, but when I look back, I recognize how much it held me back. The fear of speaking up crippled me and caused me to be unable to speak my mind. The black hole that consumed my life was my own insecurity. I started my first year of high school perfectly content living without a voice, as long as I was not the center of attention, I was at peace. During my junior year, I decided that it was finally time to face my challenge head on. I did the one thing that scared me most, I ran for treasurer for both the senior class and National Honors Society. At the time I made the decision, I knew that an important part of being an officer was speaking in front of my peers and teachers. I made
Being chained from ignorance can cause devastating effect on a person’s life. In reality, most people do not want to believe in the truth but prefer to blind themselves from what is occurring around the world. Being ignorant is the back bone of prejudices and bias. Many individuals are chained to the wall of ignorance. It might be because of self-preference or cultural influence. Many are fearful of change because of what they might not understand or the refusal to understand one’s culture. United States is cultivated as one of the most diverse countries in the world. Due to this melting pot, there are numerous multicultural ideas, religion, cultural values and sexuality. Every individual must have a sense of self-identity
Staples focuses on the fact that getting an A for any class was so complicated that only cum laude students were worth getting those grades, which gave them a very high and esteemed value. But in this modern era, good grades have lost the real value. The quantity of students getting an A grade is increasing day by day. With the advent of establishment of new colleges every year, the competition has raised among them. Competing with others is the nature of every creature, whether it is for food, shelter or anything else. In case of human beings the level of competition is beyond simple things. They compete for everything in their life. Even a small virtual game played on mobile phone is taken as a great deal of competition. And when the competition comes to be about the money and the reputation, people can go to any level to win it. Colleges compete on several levels in order to attract the student. Showering with A’s is one of the fortes taken by the
When I was a young child I was shy, socially awkward, and horribly insecure, so when I realized popularity would never be my strength I decided to put all my efforts into what I was good at: school. As early as kindergarten I was identified as an advanced student and teachers quickly highlighted my efforts as exemplary to the other students. I fed off the high praise. The better I performed academically, the greater the approval I received, the better I felt about myself, so as a naive child I determined my self-worth and academic performance were inherently linked. As long as I was successful in academics, I would be a successful person. For years, I believed that, putting school beyond all else.
Endless homework, an abundance of AP classes, countless hours spent studying complex subjects, and numerous sleepless nights, all in an effort to meet the seemingly endless list of requirements needed for a child to achieve success through academia. This is the crude reality of many young students who aspire to attend prestigious universities, most of which make various personal sacrifices that limit them in terms of experience and personal growth. It seems as though our society’s morals have evolved into a Machiavellian plot for a spot into a top-tier college. This mindset is the root of our problems regarding this new era of academic dishonesty and extreme academic competitiveness.
Davidson illustrates its affectioned disprove of the grading principle still dominating the America’s education system, by quoting Seth Godin’s blog post: “Grades are an illusion, your passion and insight are reality; your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key; persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability; fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run; and if you care enough about the work to be criticized, you've learned enough for today.”(62). As much as the purpose of the participating in college is to improve the personal employability, chances are that the grades obtained during one’s education should matter, because the GPA is all that prospective employer have on hand when comparing resumes of newly graduated candidates. What Godin tries to emphasise is not that the education in general and grades in particular does not matter, but rather to underline the fact that passionate belief in personal capability paves the never ending road of education and persistence of self-improvement defines individual progress. This process of self-improvement cannot be captured in any multiple-choice test. Standardization and Individualization cancel each other out as “standards” emphasise equalities, while individuals have differences. The positive results from the iPad experiment could partially be attributed to the individualization and customization capabilities of the new device, as Davidson herself defines it: “It was an investment in a new form of attention.”, but more to the paradigm shift suggested from the experiment, offering bottom-up education proposal (54). Finally, the incentive of free “cool” gadget completed circle that set the stage for the success of one of the first massive hacking exercises in the
Some of the other goals that students have include “to be socially respected”. This goal is above and beyond the acceptance of one’s peers, and speaks to the level of hubris that one exhibits. This is seen in dressing well, driving a nice car, having an attractive mate, being seen at the right events, and rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful. There are many extremes to this, which may be diagnosed as a Narcissistic Personality Disorder, in which the person begins to believe the façade that is given, even to the point that they believe there is no façade (McNeal, 2003).
The greatest change that I think I have undergone during my time at Thayer Academy has to be the emergence and development of my confidence. I feel as through during these last four years I have finally broken through my shell and now I have no plans of returning. While this sounds cliché, this saying does really apply to me. I am extremely grateful for this transformation from a quiet kid to one who is more out spoken and ready to participate. I feel as though it will benefit my future life and future endeavors.