The Participation Grade : A School 's Downfall

Susan Cain, a well known and appreciated writer from America in the field of psychology, recently held a speech on one of the famous TED talks and entirely captured me by trying to give the audience an understanding of introversion.

Susan Cain’s Ted Talk The Power Of Introverts brought a new conversation to society in how introverts are treated. Five years ago (when this took place) this topic was not very well discussed, which made this piece very eye opening for some. Using Aristotle's appeals: logos and pathos, as well as a comparative argument in her ted talk, Cain persuades viewers that we as a society oppress/shame introverts, not allowing them to strive or be themselves in our now extroverted society. She advocates for a more balanced society that serves both introverts and extroverts instead of just extroverts.

In her article Shyness: Evolutionary Tactic? author Susan Cain addresses many of the preconceived notions society has against introverted people. Cain argues that society tends to favor the outgoing and extroverted and shames those who prefer to be alone rather than socialize. The author utilizes certain writing strategies as a way to change her audience’s original views surrounding introversion. Cain’s use of comparing and contrasting, specific examples, and strong transitions that bridge various ideas to each other make her argument, that introverts are essential to society, much more persuasive.

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 was not until freshman year in college that I realized how problematic my shyness and introversion had become. At Monmouth University, I was fortunate enough to be accepted in the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program along with 39 other students. As a part of this program, I attended a five-week seminar during the summer. Not only was I receiving six credits, but I was also engaging in activities to sharpen my leadership and social skills. After the

Participation in class has been no problem for me over the semester. I have only missed one day for English 111 and as for my other classes I have only missed certain credit hour days due to reasons I could not help. I try coming to class prepared with my Little Seagull Handbook and They Say I Say book. I enjoy taking notes as my professor talks in class, lecturing of certain assignments that needs to be done. Peer review is how I use my group assignment time in English 111, which has helped me

Not only could grades improve, but so would the school's attendance record. Mr. Principal, students are more willing to come to class if there is something to look forward to. Instead of school being boring and torturous, it could be viewed as an opportunity to put the skills learned in their Critical Thinking class to the test. There would also be less problems waking up and therefore making it to class on time. No more napping in class, instead students would be note-taking and teachers would see the increased enthusiasm in their class. The teachers would be motivated to work even harder to teach their students all they can. Why would teachers want to teach if they know that the students couldn't care less? If teachers see students participating and not acting out then they would also be motivated to help the students learn even more than what is specified in the curriculum. Regular and advanced students would surpass any of the other schools. The school would work at least ten times more efficiently and productively. Everyone would be enthusiastic and successful in school. Mr. Principal if adding a class could determine whether your school is average or above average, would you take the chance?

While many believe that the grading system has a concrete standing in the success of education, other’s believe that it actually can inhibit or at least lessen the effectiveness of learning. In “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber states that for the longest time, many have dismissed the fact that grades could be harmful to the learning process. He argues that grades lack the ability to bring about self-discipline within the students learning the content. While the educational system has rendered changes throughout the years, the grading system maintains its virginity and has been fairly untouched. He insists that many educators are in strong belief that grades are the only way to ensure that learning is to take place within the classroom. Most of society would dictate that the system has been fairly effective in getting individuals through their schooling. But as Farber points out, students tend to focus more upon the grades they are receiving and less upon the content itself. Throughout his writing, Faber uses many forms of rhetoric to persuade the reader to believe the fact that the grading system is corrupted and should be changed, and offers a solution which is referred to as the Credit System. With this being said, it can be stated that Farber effectively conveys his argument through his appeal to a younger

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

Susan Cain is an honors graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. Since graduating Cain has become the chief revolutionary and co-founder of the Quiet Revolution and the co-founder of the Quiet Schools Network and the Quiet Leadership Institute. Cain is also the author of the bestsellers Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for almost three years and was named the #1 best book of the year by Fast Company magazine. The goal of the Quiet Revolution is to unlock the power of introverts for the benefits of everyone which was discussed in the TED talk that is being analyzed in this essay. The TED talk “The power of introverts” has been viewed over 17 million times and was named one of Bill Gates all-time favorite talks. The purpose of this speech was to inform the audience about how introversion is not what most people make it out to be. Throughout her speech, Cain compares and contrast introversion with extroversion and

Class participation includes attendance, evidence of preparation for class, participation in class discussions, and timely submission of assignments. Being prepared for class and actively participating in the class will assure that all students will get more out of the class, and assist students to be their best.

In her book Quiet Susan Cain explains that, much like our ideal appearance or ideal economic status, there is also an ideal that extroversion is the socially acceptable way of conversing, interacting and behaving in our society. The argument posed by Cain in Quiet is that everyone is different and often we have introverts forcing themselves to become something they innately “are not” in order to feel/appear socially successful.

I actually had some success in participation due to me raising my hand to answer the questions the teacher is asking me. I don’t know why but i never was afraid to raise my hand and participate or answer

Grading a student on participate gives the students the impression that they will do well by just showing up to the lecture which is only one of the problems with graded attendance. A student’s final grade should reflect their overall knowledge and understanding of the material, not their ability to show up to every single class. An article published in 2007 in Bloomberg BusinessWeek called “Treating College Kids Like School Children,” suggests this kind of liability is irrelevant and not necessary. The article goes on and states “Today’s students will increasingly be measured and rewarded by how they perform and what they create, not whether they keep a seat warm at some meeting they’d rather skip,” wrote Stephen Baker in the technology section of the magazine. Being absent from a day of class and missing out on information that may or not be on a test does not determine our overall knowledge of material.

Trying to maintain good grades is very important when in school. Having grades like “A’s” and “B’s” for example will result in having many educational opportunities and rewards. Colleges, job companies, or scholarship committees will review grades and other information on a school transcript to see if that student is eligible and satisfy the requirements needed. GPA stands for grade point average, so the higher the grade, the higher the GPA will climb up. This results in getting more money for college if the grade point average is an excellent score. There are some events and programs that reward students for having high and excellent grades. The National Honor Society is one of those programs. In order for a student’s grade to stay on top, completing school assignments are an essential way to do so. It’s not possible to get through or even pass a class without completing assignments. Usually, the class expectations will say for example quizzes are twenty-five percent, homework or classwork is fifteen percent, and tests are forty percent when it comes to grading work. What if the student just focuses on the bigger percentage? Even though the bigger percent has more impact on a student’s grade, the smaller grade percentages can still affect the student if it has not been completed at all because it adds up and it still badly affects the grade. This is why completing assignments are important. Participation in a class setting will improve a student’s grade because getting involved in the class discussions will help to understand the subject better. Some teachers even grade on participation, which can be an easy “A”.