Pass Fail Grading System

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 did not help me in the end because I never got to know the material and learn from it. If all schools were to lessen the grading system to just pass or fail classes, more students would most likely be able to become better learners and be able to focus more on their studies than trying to keep up a good grade.

In “A Proposal to Abolish Grading” Paul Goodman suggests grading students is only setting them up for failure. He states, “a student will retain nothing of what he has “passed” in.” Goodman believes that students shouldn’t be tested for a grade, “but for his own advantage” so the student isn 't just “trying to get by” he will actually be encouraged to learn the material. Grades and testing have been around for over a century. Every American has had some kind of schooling in their life. As a student, I’ve always entered a new class with the mindset that I need to pass that class, hardly ever have I thought, “I need to learn as much as I can in this class.” So why should the system that educators believe works and have used for so long change? The American education system values grades and test scores more than students value learning.

First and foremost, letter grades have been used since the 19th century without any complications. “The traditional grading scale is universally recognized. Virtually everyone knows that earning an A is good while earning an F is associated with failure. The traditional grading scale is easy to interpret and understand. The simplistic nature of the system makes it user-friendly for teachers, students, and parents. It also allows for a direct comparison from one student to another within a specific class” (Meador). Ultimately, parents remember and understand the letter grading system. It's easy to be happy that their child earned an

School is slave labor. Rather than enjoying or learning from their classes, students are forced to do useless work that will often be forgotten immediately. Grades are meant to show much a student understands a class, but instead are used as a scale of how well a student can regurgitate answers onto a test. Students only work for good grades because of the threat of being punished for failure, and the promise of reward for passing. The punishments in this case are detention or trouble from teachers, and the rewards are making the honor roll or getting bragging rights. The real reward for learning should be having new knowledge, but this is not taken into consideration. Jerry Farber, a professor at U.S.D, made the strong claim that grades are useless and harmful in his essay, “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System.” I wholeheartedly agree with Farber’s objection to our current grading system.

Would you consider yourself as a grade junkie? Do you always strive for an A and take nothing less? In his essay “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber argues that the grading system is not a good way of evaluating students academically. He believes that with the grading system the way it is, students’ do not try to learn; they only push towards getting a good letter grade. Though some may disagree, Farber's view on the grading system is true.

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.

Students who fail should not be passed to the next grade because they are not earning it. If students are able to pass through school with unacceptable grades, they are being shown that their grades do not matter. Grades should be something that is

Pass or fail grading systems is just not accurate enough to determine a students performance on his or her work. It is almost just not fair especially for students in college that have classes with a pass or fail grading system. Its not fair because students pay so much money to go

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

At times, some situations seem more fair than others, and we simply cannot understand why. We have this feeling that for some reason, the outcome was fair, whether it was what we wanted or not. There can even be instances when we look back upon the memory and admit that the outcome does not favor us, but we feel no resentment towards the decision because we feel that it was justified. Recently, I myself was presented with a similar situation. After receiving a grade with which I was not pleased, I felt angry and victimized. I then thought of another instance where I had received an even worse grade (in a different course); however, the difference was that for some reason, the worse grade did not upset me, and I simply accepted

The more beneficial way of learning is always the best for parents and kids. Standards based grading is one that is bringing kids and parents down. Standards based grading should be banned from all schools for letter grades, beneficial standards, and most of all, higher and better grade proficiency. A reason for this is that it’s affecting middle, high, and college grades, for when it’s time to move on. Another reason is it takes time to turn over to letter grades from SBG, and teachers don’t actually help you for one’s and two’s. Plus it’s easier to understand Letter Grades-(parents). These are all three reasons why standards based grading should be removed from all schools.

In “A Simple Alternative to Grading”, Glenda Potts of The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges claims that the current grading system creates many issues and added stress for all parties involved (students and teachers). In addition to this, she claims that a contract grading system would be a preferable alternative and gives numerous reasons to support this. The author emphasizes how the current grading system is subjective, wasteful of time, and stress inducing for both students and teachers. Because the current grading system is holistic, the author claims that it often makes unfair comparisons between papers of completely incomparable content. There are a lot of viable alternatives, but the author focuses on contract grading because that is the system that she has experience with in her classroom. In the contract grading system, clear guidelines are set and must either be met or missed with no room for uncertainty. Potts explains that this makes grading quicker for teachers and makes expectations for assignments more understandable and clear cut for students. The author mentions a few issues that higher-performing students had with obtaining their previously easily-earned A’s, but was able to overcome these issues by explaining the function of the system to the students. The author finishes by proclaiming that grades should not be about a letter, but about learning and retention.

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.

In sports, analysts examine a players skills and abilities through the use of personal records and game statistics. Similarly, grades reflect a student's strength and weakness in the classroom. In Paul Goodman’s excerpt entitled “A Proposal to Abolish Grading,” he argues that Ivy League Universities should abolish grades. His reasons are that students focus on passing a test more than they do on expanding their education. Eliminating grading standards will allow students to learn new material without being stressed. Goodman's main focus is on prestigious schools, but it is an issue that concerns every school. For it begs the question if grades are necessary to measure a student's inclination to learn. Goodman believes that today’s students