School Wools Research Paper

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

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.

Muldrow Middle School students had the opportunity to create a school wide demonstration about their educational path. The student body created a maze in the gym and an individual student was blindfolded. Instructions for the blindfolded student to walk through the maze was given by another student from the bleachers. Students learned even though there are obstacles in their educational path, it is important to listen to the right voices to guide them to their destination. This demonstration was part of the Muldrow Middle School House

So much in life depends on how well you do in school, it?s more recently come to light though that how teachers grade may not be good enough anymore. As time passes researchers are realizing that students can?t be treated the way they used to be, this includes how they are graded. The traditional grading system of the teacher giving a student letter grades is no longer an adequate way of measuring how intelligent students are. Though the traditional letter grading system has worked for many years, it?s time for alternative ways of grading; such as students grading each other, feedback instead of letters, and the hybrid grading system.

Ken Robinson gave a Ted Talk titled “ Do schools kill creatively?” This whole idea is focused around children, and how they are raised throughout the education system. He talks about school, starting from a young age, is so focused on teaching students what society deems important, without actually teaching them to use their natural abilities and talent to fully reach all aspects of education. If students are forced to learn the same thing, without taking in to account the various abilities and aspirations in each individual who is being taught, then everyone may not fit that specific mold that school is trying to shape.

They have become lazy and instead of looking in the mirror and facing the confining beast that they have created, they blame the student for, “just not wanting to learn”. Classrooms are, and should, be design by other people’s interests. But those “people”, should be the student. While there still needs to be standards, such as History, Math, English, etc., what is to say that we cannot educate in a way that develops our students. Education should be administered in a way that breaks the shackles and allows students to explore their curiosity and develop themselves. All while still incorporating fundamental lessons and standards. If administrators are unwilling to provide freedom, if teachers are unwilling to explore their own creativity and think how these ideas are possible, then the students deserve to have individuals who are up to the

The first thing I expolored is why current grading practices utilized in many schools no not necessarily reflect accurate student achievement. First and foremost, grading varies from teacher to teacher. So if a student gets an “easy” teacher, grades may be inflated, whereas if a student gets a “hard” teacher, grades may not look as promising. Teacher values and beliefs on education play a major factor in this variance of grades. Consequently, under most current practices where teachers can determine how the will grade students, different teachers may grade the exact same course very differently. For example, one teacher may have different categories of grades carry a different weight (ie, tests might be 50% or homework might be 10%, participation or attendance might factor in), while another teacher might grade strictly on a total points basis. Because of these, and other notable differences, I am pleased to see that schools are utilizing an approach which strives to eliminate extraneous factors and which puts more meaning into the grades stu dents earn (Cox, 2011).

What purpose do grades serve? Does emphasis on earning high grades lead to better outcomes for high school graduates? I believe that pressuring children to earn high grades in school reduces the quality of education by taking the emphasis off of learning and placing it onto achieving a grade. Human beings are natural learners. We come into this world eager to learn as much as we can in each moment. It’s hard wired into us to explore our environment and discover how everything works – from our own bodies by learning to walk, talk, eat, and dress ourselves, to taking apart an old radio and putting it back together again just to see how the machine works. Parents clap and cheer when their baby takes his first steps, and their heart swells when their daughter succeeds in putting that radio back together. Does attaching an outside opinion to the “quality” of a person’s learning experience, in the form of a grade, change a child’s desire to learn? I believe so.

Grading for learning is not only a shift in mindset but also a change in how teachers have teach and grade. This educational shift is not being done without reason. The student we have in front of us should be evaluated fairly and that score should be transparent. Students should understand the educational expectations and behavioral expectations within a classroom. These two should not mix. This change allows for a more accurate measure of a student 's understanding of the content that is expected of them. With this in place, any area where the student might have gaps, of missing connections can easily be focused on and a direct route to get them there can be created. Evaluating students against predetermined standards is a

Grades have served to dehumanize students. Instead of being seen as full, complete beings they are reduce to A students, C students, and students failing the class. This judgment is not only made by their teachers but by society as a whole. Parents often set standards for what their kids grades need to be and punish them if they don’t reach the mark. Friends and classmates compare the results of tests and report cards, making learning into a competition where some are “better” than others. Additionally, and perhaps the most disturbingly, for some students, grades become a reflection of their own worth.

The idea of grading students on the work they do inside and outside of class has been around for many years. The theory behind it is that it will motivate students to work harder in order to score better. W.O. Forman wrote about how for a small amount of students who willingly strive for educational popularity, receiving an A could be a motivating force in “The Gradeless Era in High School”. But for the vast majority of children in school, the letter “A” or the percentage “100%” simply isn't enough to motivate them to try. Not only that, but teachers simply give a grade that shows that the pupil has succeeded or failed in learning the topic. They do not attempt to explain to the student what mistakes they made or how they could improve, therefore not giving the child an opportunity to understand what is correct and why it is correct. How then, are students expected to improve? “Is

From my perspective this is totally true because one grade cannot represent all of your effort of learning the subject. A letter or numeric number cannot explain the inner knowledge of a student, also it

Education has always been a great factor in determining human survival and success. Whether it is learning to live in a harsh environment or learning to manage a company, education is and always will be incredibly significant. Education is so important in modern society that a system of grades has been developed to evaluate students of all ages and levels. In Paul Goodman’s essay “A Proposal to Abolish Grading” he argues that the grading system that is commonly used in our society is ineffective and should be done away with. This idea is wrong since there are many positive outcomes that result from the current grading system.

Grading systems are a positive motivator that helps students successful by striving to get a better grade. As a human, motivations is an important factor that pushes us toward success. In a disagreement with Michael Thomsen who wrote an article called “The case against grades”, “ There is always something or someone to blame in our struggle for education reform. Sometimes it’s the “bad teachers” who get the blame. Other times it’s standardized testing, insufficient funding, or slow-moving bureaucracy. I blame grades.” Although, the grading systems differ from a country to another, but eventually they serve the same purpose of grading students based on their performance and commitments. Students usually perform differently. The use of the grading systems fairly determine their achievements and performance in school

There is no need to take my word for it. Observe the increasing number of parents appeasing their children with cash or new cell phones for sub-par grades. Listen to the two “cool kids” in the back of the classroom that would rather chat about what parties they plan on attending this weekend than acknowledge the teacher 's presence. As a site of social gathering, school has remained unchallenged. As a site of learning however, school has become nearly obsolete.