For those who have citizenship in America, who are living in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” as the American national anthem suggests, education for all has consequently become an important part of who we are as a society. Yet, because of the vastness of the subject, individuals have different ideas regarding what education should look like in a school setting, which has in turn lead to the question, “what makes a successful student?” Are students successful only if their grade is a B or higher, or is there something more then the grade system that defines success?
In the article“Student Expectation Seen as Causing Grade Disputes” , it specifically points out a common dispute among college students regarding grades. Colleges around the country have been having to handle a substantial amount of perturbed students complaining that they have received a considerably lower grade for a designated assignment then the amount of effort they applied to accomplish it deserved. Discouraged and angry, students see their teachers' explanations of grades being based ability not effort, as unfair and stifling. I understand where these students are coming
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In the article “Student Expectation Seen as Causing Grade Disputes”, Professor Bower said, “ If students developed a genuine interest in their field, grades would take a back seat, and holistic and intrinsically motivated learning could take place.” Consequently our mentality should not be, “ I worked hard therefore I deserve an A”, but instead should be, “ Whatever my grade, I did my best and have come away from this class with more knowledge and understanding of this topic then I entered with.” As my mentality changed in regard to how a student can be successful, my intent and goals for AP English Language and Composition fell into
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
As a Curriculum Coach, I facilitate professional development for teachers based on the needs of our staff and students. After spending time observing classrooms and meeting with teachers, I realized that we needed to examine our current grading practices. Our current practices focus too much on grading effort and behaviors, and not enough on measuring understanding of specific learning targets. As a result, our students and teachers focus on turning in assignments, instead of learning. If ask why a student is failing, the most common response is “he is not turning in his work”. Teachers are unable to communicate which specific learning targets the students are missing, because the grades are distorted by student behaviors. When making decisions about placement in honors courses, it is difficult to determine which students have the knowledge necessary to move into an advanced course because their grades are clouded by effort and
Schools and college professors, who give you a good grade for excellent productivity on assignments, allow students to perform poorly, but still benefit relative to a person with an A. Two articles that observe grade inflation, find the rising problems of grade inflation, and finding solutions for grade inflation. Stuart Rojstaczer, an author from Grade Inflation Gone Wild, is a professor of geophysics at Duke university, and created gradeinflation.com in regards for his concern about grade inflation. On the other hand, Phil Primack is a journalist and teacher at Tufts University, and published in the “Boston Globe” Doesn’t Anybody Get a C Anymore? While college students, who work with little effort and still attain easy A’s by working poorly on assignments and exams, Primack and Rojstaczer, develop a firm connection towards grade inflation and the solution that can regain control over real education.
The pressure to uphold a grade motivates students to look for and memorize the information on upcoming tests. Furthermore, students will be more likely to opt for projects and classes with more basic content to learn because easier classes increase the student's likelihood of receiving an A. To students, the easy way out is the right way since the success of gaining an A on transcripts has become more important than learning.
Throughout the course of this semester in AP Lang, my eyes have been opened to many of the weaknesses I never knew I had in writing. Coming into this semester, I had heard about the difficulty of this class, but was not unduly worried about not receiving an A; I have always considered myself as a competent if not strong writer. However, after failing to attain desired grades on several important essays, I was devastated, and realized that although I had mastered the basics of grammar and writing, there was still much for me to work on. Also, I did not understand that much of my grade in AP Lang would be determined by speaking in front of others, which is not my strong suit. What I have come to find is that writing essays containing all of the new information we have learned throughout the semester, such as requirements for different types of essays and good writing strategies, takes a lot of work, time, and thinking. Unfortunately, my procrastination caused me to only get done what had to be done instead of putting in the extra work and truly understanding everything.
Furthermore, the author points out that grades are not improving because students and education are improving but rather because parents and students are demanding grades to be adjusted according to what they think it is needed not what it is deserved. “Students and parents are demanding -- and getting -- what they think of as their money's worth” (Staples, 216). Students are not receiving the grade they truly deserve based on their work but what the parents and the students themselves
For those who have citizenship in America, who are living in “the land of the free and the home of the brave” as the American national anthem suggests, education for all has consequently become a fundamental column in our country. Yet the individuals receiving their education within a school setting have developed different thought processes on what is the mark of a successful student. Are these students successful only if their grade is a B or higher? If the grade does not take preeminence then what does in regard to education? The article “Student Expectation Seen as Causing Grade Disputes”, Specifically points out a common dispute among college students regarding grades. Colleges around the country have been having to handle a substantial amount of perturbed students complaining that they received a considerably
In his article "Making the Grade," Kurt Wiesenfeld presents a problem regarding the ethical value of grades in modern society. A physics professor, Wiesenfeld opens the article by making the "rookie error" of being in his "office the day after final grades were posted." (paragraph 1) Several students then attempt to influence him to change their grades for the class. What concerns Wiesenfeld is that many of his more recent students consider a grade to be a negotiable commodity rather than accept the grade as an accurate representation of efforts and performance and how much they learned. The author indicates that part of this
Alves. She mentioned how well I had done on the AP test in her usual Texan boisterous tone that could only be Mrs. Alves, and I folded into myself to admit that I never checked my AP scores because it gave me too much anxiety. Mrs. Alves is the teacher that brought me out of my shell and challenged my writing more than anyone before, so naturally I was pleased to learn that I had earned a 5! Mrs. Alves was a perfect vessel to deliver the news and I felt so happy to make her proud since she made such a positive impression and lasting impact on my high school experience. Going into AP 12 now, I grew a little weary as I saw AP 11 students drop like flies to go into honors this year, but was easily quelled at Mrs. Alves saying to me “I knew you were able to do this” and “your spirit has gotten so much lighter since the beginning of last year.” My goals for AP Lit are to write essays passionately and effectively, and to mature as a writer. My only concern for AP Lit is the difference between the approaches to writing and analyzing between last year and this year; I got very comfortable the way I was writing last year and it may be a little shell-shocking at the beginning. Change is good! Change is challenging! Challenging myself is good! Positive
As a student in university, grades are very important to me because high grade or passing grade shows that I am passing my courses. Grades are very essential to me because passing my courses with passing guarantee my success in college. In the reading, “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Dispute” by Max Roosevelt, this reading talks about the different views of earning students grade in courses/classes. According in reading, Mr. Greenwood state that the professors/teachers should grade the students based on their efforts to accomplish assignment. In the same reading, Dean Hogge argued that professor shouldn’t be blame of students low grade in their courses/classes. Students work hard to earn the grade, some professor gives syllabi to
Not too long ago, our Reasoning and Argumentation 101 class was handed back our first quiz of the semester. I was told that the class average was a 74 percent, so immediately I was proud of the 90 percent that I had received. However, my instructor, Raymond Darr, announced that he would be willing to make everyone’s grade a 74 percent so that everyone’s grades could be treated equally. Initially, I was furious; I could not believe that after all of the hard work and dedication I had put into studying and making a cheat sheet was going to be for no reason. After thinking about the the advantages and disadvantages of Professor Darr’s decision while consulting class discussions, an online article, and the “Harrison Bergeron” article given to us
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.
In “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation,” Alfie Kohn sets out to determine if grade inflation is indeed fact or fiction. The opening quotes provided by two professors at Harvard University separated by over century has most definitely peaked my interest. It had me questioning whether or not these professors are holding our education system to a “Harvard” standard or is their actually truth to their statements; that feigned students are indeed submitting “sham work” (Bergmann, 260). Kohn goes onto indicate that: “To say that grades are not merely rising but inflated—and that they are consequently ‘less accurate’ now, as the American Academy’s report puts it-is to postulate the existence of an objectively correct evaluation of what a student (or essay) deserves” (Bergmann, 263). To theorize grade-inflation is to question the judgment and teaching of all the previous and future educators of America. It also raises the question of why has not there any concert data to support this claim. Why is our educational system delaying this investigation since this concern has been around for years? Especially, now that grade inflation is starting to gain more momentum.
“Student’s expectation seen as causing grades dispute” by The New York Times author Max Roosevelt discusses in the matter of how students are feeling more entitled to a higher grade just based on their efforts. The root of these problems can be typically traced back to their experience of grading system in their education and other certain criteria. Many students were also interviewed to understand why they deserve the grade that they are disputing with their professors. Nevertheless methods and solution that professors from various universities are being tested to reteach student what education truly is.
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).