Pros And Cons Of The Pass Or Fail System

In his article “College Students Need to Toughen Up, Quit Their Grade Whining”, Robert Schlesingner addresses the emerging issue of grade inflation, and more specifically, the greater sense of entitlement that seems to prevail in the modern scholastic realm. Mr. Schlesingner begins his address by presenting his background and what

Grade Shading Throughout my education I have experienced many different grading systems. The one that worked the best, in my opinion, was grade shading (pluses and minuses like B+, B, B- etc.). However many schools and colleges still use traditional grades (such as A, B, C and so on). Having been to five different schools and two different colleges I have seen both systems first hand. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, however I prefer grade shading because it is more fair and makes you a more competitive student.

For example, if a student notices they have a low grade in a class, such as an F, they will want to do better in that class to excel their grade before receiving a report card. It encourages people to be more productive and learn more so they can advance their letter grade. Basically, if we did not have letter grades students would have little or no motivation to do well.

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.

There are pros and cons to both grading for completion and grading for accuracy, but neither method gives students the incentive to relook at the questions that they missed the first time around. Cathy Vatterott, the author of Rethinking Homework says, “The goal is to have grades reflect learning, not behavior or responsibility” (120). This is the main point of grades not just because the student did the work but because the student understands the work they did. This proves why grading for accuracy is a better alternative than grading for

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.

Or if they put the wrong percentage in they can easily fix it. Some people are just lazy and it would be easier for them to use the pass or fail grading system so they wouldn't have to do the math to figure out a students grade. pass or fail grading system encourages students to do the bare minimum. Their mentality is all they have to do is pass. With a grading system there is no room to slack off. That's the type of system we need in the schools, because later in life it reflects how we perform as person, student and also in out

While reading Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Students Do” of the five different types of students he describes, I feel like I fall under the label of one having mediocre grades but achieving success. I make good grades, however I do not necessarily believe my grades always reflect my hard work, determination and effort put in, similar to his theory on false hope in standardized testing. Throughout my school career, I have consistently made A and B grades. I can remember only one C grade, which was a quarter grade, and very disappointing, but a lesson learned. At the same time though, and as Bain helped me realize through his text, grades are not everything and making a C is not something that is going to kill me; there is simply more to school than a letter grade. In fact he points out through most of the 1800s schools only used two grades, pass or fail. As seen nowadays, schools have since adopted the letter grade system.

In Brent Staples' story, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A's” he explains how grades have gotten higher in colleges over the past years. Students and parents seem to demand for grades because of what they pay for college. Professors sometimes have no choice but to give in, because it might look bad on them or to avoid classes from being removed.

The American education system has not changed drastically since the 1900s. In the early 1900’s before grading, teachers were expected to communicate in depth to their students on how they were doing in the class. This worked well for small groups and individual tutoring. The ability for this information to be passed on to those who were not involved with the learning process, such as employers and parents was limited. By the mid 20th century schools changed drastically as they introduced grades in the form of letters. The American schools now became more standardized as A, B, C, D and F represented ones grade. Depending what percentage a student received determined letter they got. An example is an A is a mark of 90-100%

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

First off, letter grades are more precise. In the SBG grading system, it is on a 1-4 scale. If you do a C+ job but your teacher gives you a 2 you immediately assume you got a D or C because it’s close to a 1 which is the worst possible grade. With letter grades there are 13 possible grades you could get which

The Grade Inflation Epidemic     It's June, and another graduating class is hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of course, "high" is a subjective target. Originally a "C" meant average; today however, the expectations and pressures to give and receive "A's" and "B's" takes its toll on teachers and students alike. This nullifies the value of the traditional grading scale and creates a host of entirely new problems. The widespread occurrence of grade inflation seriously affects the credibility of secondary and post-secondary education in America.

Finally, achieving a high grade in college is more difficult than in high school. In high school, grades are easier to achieve and there are greater opportunities for marks. Usually, a student is graded on many different areas, including; attendance, participation, effort, and organization. Also, students are graded on evaluations and assignments. These are the areas which are graded, and these account for a large portion of the final

The public high schools began a grading system as a way of telling an A student can be excluded from their peer groups because they have a bad grade. Being left out can make a student not want to improve academically. If they get bad grades others will see them as a poor student and will expect them to do poor in life. The process most schools use to evaluate student performance is grade point average and class rank. The academic recognition programs that exist in the United States are driven by a student’s grade point average and class rank. Those measures serve as the primary method in establishing student recognition. If this ranking is not the sole factor in the recognition program, it is always included in the student’s assessment. The school culture recognizes individuals that are in the top one-third of the school’s class rank