Education As A Viable Curriculum

Education is a long-term investment. We, as students, work hard to acquire knowledge and to hone our skills so that we may use them one day. The effort we put into a single assignment should be considered as both for that specific assignment and for our rounding as complete, educated individuals. And with this mindset, students should be motivated even more to put more effort and hard work into academics, with the goal of bettering themselves for the future and advancing their prospects as individuals. And with this hard work and effort will come progress, and this progress should be reflected in the grading—not necessarily on individual assignments, but on the student’s education as a

Now let us examine the mostly accepted reasons for assessing students’ achievements using conventional grading systems.

Curriculums are the roadmaps for schools which provide purpose and direction for administrators, educators, parents, and students. Curriculum typically refers to, “the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments and projects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning.” (Curriculum, 2015, para. 1) Curriculums may come in many shapes and forms, whether they’re purchased as a package at the school or district level or they’re created or refined by educators and

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.

Aristotle said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” What does it really mean to be educated? Many people thought that they knew what education meant, even I felt confident in myself to define education. However, the ideas discussed in class really made me question my definition of education. My definition has changed within the past few weeks as I discovered more about education. I am here to present my definition of education; with the lack of resources, one can still become educated by learning the unknown and putting your knowledge to good use.

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.

Grades: Unneccessary for Learning 30 years ago, the United States of America was ranked the leader in quality of education. However, today it is now reported to be the 36th highest in the world. The learning experience has altered drastically in the recent years. In his essay, “A Young Person's Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber claims that students have become addicted to grades. He further explains that due to the negative impact grades have, people believe they need to be graded in order to keep them in line.

Alfie Kohn discussed many 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 such as, portfolios or narratives. Kohn goes into detail about why our current grading system is flawed. Grades can cause students to lose interest in learning, this 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,

There are myriad unforeseen consequences when schools use the traditional grading system. For the past century, traditional grading practices and policies that have contributed to much of the failure of student achievement. The use of the traditional grading system has slowly led to the major issue of grade inflation. Most often students’ grade tend to be inflated with the help of non-academic factors such as homework, participation and student effort. High school teachers tend include effort as part of the grade, giving high grades to students who work in class despite whether they

The current academic grading system is helpful in student performance. The main reason the opposition disagrees with my point of view is simply that they believe the system has unfair limits and is not easily understood by everyone. The opposition argues that,“the grading scale is easy to manipulate because it is often subjective in nature.” (Meador) They argue this because, every teacher has a different teaching style and ways of grading. For example, during high school chemistry, my teacher required that we explain our solving process on each

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,

Educators look for specific qualities when determining grades for students. Grades provide insight on the performance of a student and gives a quality related to the level of accomplished criteria. Grades are utilized to help students self- evaluate and to enhance work if necessary. Grades are used to communicate the instructor’s verdict on level of mastery, and used to determine what has and has not been learned. Holy Family’s grading system evaluating framework have elevated standards; however, those desires can be harmful to the students. In Kohn’s article, he expressed that grades lessen students in light of a legitimate concern for

A grading system seems to be a part of society. A pass/fail system is actually in the UMUC system already; it’s called a “C” grade. The greatest way to use

Introduction: I remember the first time that a grading rubric was attached to a piece of my writing. Suddenly all the joy was taken away. I was writing for a grade -- I was no longer exploring for myself. I want to get that back. Will I ever get that back? As doleful as it may sound, it is the truth. For years, students have been forced to live under a strict grading system. I am now directly speaking to those responsible for the creation of the grading system.This must change. Although many people believe in using the grading system as a way to accurately assess students based on performances, I believe that on the other hand, the grading system is exacerbating the situation because

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.