Intelligence has begun to define individuals globally, but the goal of the minimum grading system is fairness and equality. Fair share grading is when all students in the class take an intended exam, but the class average score of the test is given to every student. Each student will receive the same grade even if one did better or worse than the average score. That being said it could reduce dropout rates, test anxiety, and competition between students. On the other hand, students could be affected negatively because it could lead to false self-value and unfairness to those students who study harder in order to earn higher grades. The debate continues about whether students should be separated by intelligence or be given equal grades in order …show more content…
The letter grade to symbolize this is “C”. The fair share grading system goal is to achieve the average. For this system, the students all receive the same schooling, but do teachers and faculty believe that students are all achieving above average grades? Through the fair share grading system, students are seen to be unable to reach the standard goals. With that being said, students must be guided or coached through school by those around them. This could ultimately lead to false self- value. Self-value is defined as the views or opinions one places upon oneself. In this case, false self-value is that one may be lacking believe and confidence. If the education system changed to the fair share grading technique, students could be led to believe that they are not as smart as everyone else so they should rely on their classmates’ …show more content…
A young boy named George was given a transmitter in his ear that would send out a sharp noise to keep him from having an “unfair advantage” in his intelligence. The noise would cause George and anyone else who starting to think about something intellectually would have this noise go through their ear. Thus, causing them to, ultimately, forget what they were thinking before. This causes George to have the same amount of knowledge as his community around him. Average intelligence will allow for no competition and equality among members. Harrison Bergeron relates to fair share grading because there is no diversity of intelligence among students or community members. Everyone will have the same expectations of average intelligence whether you are in the community or in school. Does it seem fair to eliminate someone’s thoughts and feelings because others believe they could be too
The article written by Michael Thomsen addresses the issue: should we as a society continue using a standardized grading system. Thomsen includes many reasons supporting his ultimate conclusion that we should not continue with any system of standardized grades. However, the reasons he uses to support his conclusion are affected by significant ambiguity which weakens the overall argument.
In a world in which a person is not compensated for his work, he would no longer work as diligently. Often times, a person will work in order to receive a reward. This reward then helps him to gain more rewards in the future. This can be seen in a game of rummy when a player must play each hand carefully in order to benefit himself in later hands. This is precisely what occurs when students receive GPAs that have been weighted; so, as a result of the extensive amount of work required to receive the same grade in an Advanced Placement (AP) course as in a base level course, the students of Saint Bernard deserve to benefit from a more accurate representation of and award for their work: weighted GPAs.
In other words, two teachers may give the same assignment two completely different grades based on their own grading style. This puts an incredible amount of stress on a student because they need to complete assignments that will satisfy their current teacher, whose expectations and grading style could be very similar or very different from the student’s previous teacher. Alfie Kohn believes that the influence grades have on a student’s life doesn’t help this situation, and may even make it worse by providing students with a false sense of security about their knowledge. In her article “From Degrading to De-grading”, she states that scores on tests can be largely based on how the test was written and what skills were tested (Kohn 240). Therefore, it is up to teachers to identify what topics students must master in order to be proficient and score well on standardized tests. But when the class is not structured with a consideration for the material used on such tests, students enter the test blind to the skills that they will be expected to know and use. Anyone can memorize a list of facts off a study guide and score well on a multiple choice test the next day, but skills such as analyzing literature and interpreting a handful of graphs containing data from a scientific experiment are skills that require time and hours of instruction to master.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Grades also cause a seen diversity among the students. That would be the half that get great grades, and the other half with lower grades. At a young age children can realize which section the fall into. Some students that fall into the lower half may push themselves to do better, but others will not. They see no point when they think they cannot be the higher half. The odds are not in those kids favor, and they know
In today’s society we feel the need to be graded in order to learn. The topic of the grading system has sparked three essays, by three different authors, about the pros and cons of the grading system. First, Jerry Farber, professor at University of California at San Diego, wrote A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System (333). Next is Steven Vogel, professor at Denison University, who wrote Grades and Money (337). The last two authors in this compilation are Stephen Goode and Timothy W. Maier. They both are journalists for Insight on the News. While each of these authors have their own point of view on the grading system, all three essays talk about how being graded affects learning.
Some students simply do not test well, others try their hardest and still cannot reach the impracticable standards set for them. The individuals who create these tests do not understand the pressures of being a student, or the struggle to answer thirty-five questions in a compressed time period. One test cannot accurately measure the intelligence of a student.
Lyndsey Layton has been covering nation education since 2011, she has written on many different topics in education, and has been employed by the Washington Post since 1998. In her article about standardized testing she states, “...students should be judged by multiple measures, including student work, written teacher observations and grades. And they overwhelmingly think teacher quality is the best way to improve education, followed by high academic standards and effective principals.” (Layton pg.1). This quote shows that standardized tests only judge certain measures of a student's intelligence. Students should be graded in multiple areas not just how well they can answer multiple choice problems. Standardized tests only grade students on one way of thinking and discourage creative, out of the box thinking. Kira Zalan is an editor for the U.S. News Weekly, she first appeared in September of 2011, and has been writing since. Zalan states, “...there are multiple paths to the same outcome and that engagement is an extremely important aspect of the equation.”(Zalan pg.1). Standardized tests only allow for one path of thinking. There can be multiple different ways to find an answer, but if students do not answer the “correct” way they will be graded as wrong. Because these tests are graded by machines and not people, the participants answers
I believe that to motivate students to do work, practice work needs to be worth more than 10% of a students’ grade. Ideally, I believe the grading scale should be closer to 75% knowledge, and 25% practice. I believe this would help students want to do their work because practice work is worth much more than 10%. If the students do not do any practice work, they can end up with a C, which in many cases is deemed average. Also, those who do their practice work well can use practice assignments to bring up bad test scores. Due to this, more students will do well on their practice work, therefore leading to better scores in tests because students are trying on practice work and they are doing work. Those on the school board may think that 75/25 would be too much weight on practice work, due to this I also think an 80/20 grading scale would be a good option. Seeing as students would still be getting more credit for their homework. The 90/10 grading system needs to be changed for Emma and for all the students at Austin High School in order to benefit them in the future, in both college and their future
In the United States, standardized testing is used to measure how knowledgeable or unknowledgeable a person is in a particular subject. Standardized tests are exams designed to measure a student’s scholastic performance. These tests are a controversial issue, because some people feel the test do not show the students’ intelligence. I am one of these people. What the test may cover may not be what the students have learned in class. However, some critics feel “that standardized tests allow administrators, teachers, and parents the opportunity to view solid evidence of the students’ performance, which in turn could lead to curriculum changes” (Banta, p.1). Standardized tests also create unnecessary stress for students. These tests require students to study or cram for many hours and puts them in a demanding social setting where they are forced to answer difficult questions.
Giving students a grade that they have not earned hinders the youth’s future educational success. A number of schools are no longer giving a grade of zero on assignments, tests, and exams completed by students. While other school districts continue to give students the grade that is adequate for the work they have done or have not completed. Giving students the grade that equals their work is designed to show students where they need to improve. Many school boards want to stop giving out zeros for work that hasn’t been turned in and give a grade that rages around the “D” area keeping children from falling behind in their classes. By allowing student to pass through the school system the educational board is raising their graduation and success
Standardized testing has taken over the education realm and led to a shift in the institutional goals and values of education. In the last 40 years, standardized exams have changed; they were once used to determine the learning level of students, but now they are being used to determine the teacher’s ability. Standardized tests do not measure education quality and are incorrectly used, leading to the wrongful evaluation of teachers and the limiting of education for students by schools.
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.
One change institutions should make to the grading system is to eliminate all factors that have noting to do with learning outcomes from affecting the students’ grade. According to the article, “Assessment of Learning Outcomes: What’s the difference?” written by Carnegie Mellon University, grades are often based on more than learning outcomes. Instructors usually include factors unrelated to learning outcomes such as attendance to class, participation, improvement and in some cases, grades are boosted a bit due to how hard the student is working.” These factors are
Promoting fairness in the classroom not only gives the teacher respect but also gives the students a sense of safeness and trust within the classroom. Creating an environment that revolves around fairness, trust and respect will be beneficial to all of the children in the class. The terms respect and trust are pretty straightforward. There doesn’t need to be a debate on what those two mean, but the same cannot be said for fairness. When one usually hears the word “fair” it is often looked at as synonymous to the term “equal” but the two are not the same, especially in a classroom setting. The term fairness on the classroom level means that the individual students are given what he or she may need in order to be successful; fairness does not