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Research proposal on influence of parental involvement in academic performance
Research proposal on influence of parental involvement in academic performance
Research proposal on influence of parental involvement in academic performance
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Students, parents, and teachers have complained about the grading system in the U.S. Students despise how they have to get A 's, parents hate seeing their children stressed and teachers hate the extra pressure being put on them to prepare the kids for college. In Europe, however, they use a different grading system. Instead of having an A be 90-100% and a B be 80-89%, in Europe an A is 70-100% and a B is 60-69%. Having the European grading system may seem beneficial but this may not be the case. As stated previously, students, parents and teachers have issues with the grading system. So, we 'll go down the list to look in depth on what it is people are really frustrated with as well as if having the European grading system would be better than having the U.S.
First, we 'll start with the students. Students, whether they are elementary students or college students, have been pressured to get good grades. They have then been told that if they do not receive high remarks, they will not have a future nor a job/career. In Trust and Distrust: The Problem with Traditional Grading, they go on to say that grades have now taken over students lives where "Grades then become a form of currency, a symbolic means to negotiate a vast network of relationships and opportunities." (it.slawu.edu).
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If there 's something the parents don 't like about the school, they can change it; they are the ones who can really make a difference. This is shown in an article about a high school who have implemented a new grading system. After this new grading system was put in, students ' grades started dropping. The parents have stated "It 's not just the grades themselves; parents said they 're also concerned hat their kids aren 't learning as much." (www.kktv.com). If we were to switch to the European grading system and parents were concerned, they would be the one 's who could make a change whereas teachers
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 his essay, "Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s,” Staples claims that student grades are increasing for the wrong reasons, causing college degrees to become meaningless. Staples provides evidence that average grades have increased significantly over the last several decades, but claims that it is not because students are working harder. The real explanation for grade inflation, he argues, is the effect of grades on both students and their professors. Teachers give more A’s to receive better evaluations and increase job security. Students give more importance to their grades as a result of the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. Staples argues that modern
The author states that when he was a kid, he was very pleased to get a B grade and now students see those grades as mediocre to say the least. When he attended Tufts in late 1960s, a “B” in certain courses was something that he could dream about. Primack states that GPA’s across the nation have risen since the 1960’s. He believes that this issue could be due to teachers not wanting to give out bad grades in fear that students will not want to take their classes. He uses Harvard University as a prime example of a college guilty of grade inflation. “About 15 percent of Harvard Students got a B-plus or better in 1950. In 2007, more than half of all Harvard grades were in the A range.” One of the questions being proposed by him is could the grade inflation be due simply to the fact that students are getting better? Primack simply refutes this argument by stating, “Privately, many faculty members and administrators say colleges are unwilling to challenge and possibly offend students and their hovering tuition paying parents with some tough grade love.” The writer claims that “grade inflation hides laziness on the part of the students, and as long as it exists, even faculty who want to do a good job grading don’t feel they can.” The statement is based on the belief that grade inflation is the result of fearful and “scared” teachers but does not have any real evidence to back it. If in fact laziness is the problem being covered up by grade inflation, the work force could be affected badly in the future. Phil Primack seems to be addressing an audience of teachers and some students across the country. He repeatedly talks about grade inflation being on the rise and being a problem. He gives good examples that without a doubt prove that grades have in fact risen since 1960. Primack calls on the audience to act and to change the way they grade in the
Staples wrote, “Professors at every level inflate to escape negative evaluations by students, whose opinions now figure in tenure and promotion decisions”. (935) to tell the truth, I disagree with Staples opinion. I ponder on if it really the students or is it the professor. If a couple of students leave a bad review that will not make the professor look bad if they are giving them the grades they deserve. Why are the students in charge of the professor’s job? That is a question no one can answer. There are several aspect to consider whether or not the professor could be doing the job for the money or have too much pride in letting others see them do bad. Those aspects should be taking into consideration when speaking about grade inflation. I feel as if Staples is putting more blame on the students and parents than the teachers and administrators. Even if colleges use Staples’ proposal colleges are still faced competition among online universities. Students who attend a college campus generally end up in debt causing more people to steer toward receiving their diplomas online. Therefore, grade inflation will continue to rise because of the fear among
One argument in favor of peer grading is that it offers a student feedback on minor lessons, and it allows teachers to focus on curriculum, creativity, and grading major tests and papers (Grading). However, some psychologists view the practice of grading work in class as potentially damaging to students' self-esteem. Some students may be teased for getting good grades, or those who struggle in class work may also be ridiculed (Grading). Regardless of the grading practice, students are going to be teased by their peers. ...
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.
America is quickly changing to be a nation of inflation. Grade point averages have risen from 2.93 during the ‘91-’92 school year to 3.07 nearly a decade later (Harding 21). This is mostly due to the change in grading scales from a traditional seven point grade scale, which a student could only earn an A if obtaining a 93 percent or higher and doesn’t award students with any “minus” grades, giving a student a B if he gets a 92 percent, and a 10 point scale which adds “minus” grades, so it is possible to have a 91 percent and only have an A- rather than a B. Some states, such as North Carolina, are now requiring all of the high school to grade on a 10 point scale (Lee 1). This is supposed to aid students not only in getting into college, but getting a job as well, because that is the ultimate goal in everyone’s life, right? One is supposed to get into college to get a degree so they can make money for the rest of their life. But the problem arises because the importance of getting a job has surpassed the importance of getting an honest education. John Harding even made the point that grading has changed from a measure and motivator for students to perform and learn to an external evaluation
In conclusion, I believe that the grade system is important to the success of the students so can know where they stand in a course as far as grades are concern, and they are able to motivate themselves to light their grades up higher than before as well as the Instructors can see where students need help and they can play an important role in a students career as far as them knowing what areas they need assisting in so they might succeed.
Since the release of the report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010 many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students the greatest opportunity to succeed. According to the report, American students are not testing as high as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be one of the most influential downfalls.
The Consequences of Grade Inflation When students arrive at university, professors expect them to understand the material to an exceptional standard. The problem is that grade inflation is occurring more regularly in secondary schools and universities across the country and when these students’ marks are sent to universities or colleges, the student may be given multiple scholarships for something that he/she should not have earned. Grade inflation is conceived between both students and teachers, meaning that the students are given higher grades when they have inadequate learning, reading, and verbal skills, while the teachers do not have to grade as many papers as they should in the real curriculum. There have been multiple examinations that have confirmed that grade inflation is very real and still occurs today. Students seem to think that they do not need to put forth much effort in school to do well, and grade inflation encourages this thought.
One of the issues, which Boyer points out , is that teachers and students have different expectations from college education. She says that the teachers are mainly concerned about students’ comprehension of the material, their attendance and attention while students’ hopes are to get good grades and to be well prepared for exams. It seems that the system of grading pushes students to not care too much about what is being taught from an understanding perspective, but only promotes more concern about grades instead. Some students don't really pay attention unless the instructor mentions an exam or something that will be graded. Furthermore, be...
However, such accusations such as laziness and entitlement, although common, have been prevalent amongst those of college age as proven in “A’s for Everyone.” Shepard had investigated the cause behind this and had put the blame on grade inflation in the years prior to entering college, the pressure to get superb grades due to high tuition costs, and most importantly the belief that “effort” constitutes a grade bonus. However, if one has entered the school system in America, one could see the relative ease in which one could improve their grades through inordinate amounts of extra credit. Multiple students have heard and even seen fellow students ask their parents to even come in for meetings of which equate to blaming their child’s poor grades on the teacher and harassing said teacher to allow their child, soon to be a hardworking, productive citizen of society, to get the “grade they
Why would one hypothesize a change is needed? First, international comparisons show the decline in education. Tests show American high school students rank much lower than other nations on standardized math and science tests (United States 66). On a test given in twenty-one nations, American pupils only outperformed Cyprus and South African students. These results seem more devastating when one sees Asian nations, usually ranking high in competitions, did not participate (McNamara 73). Examinations also reveal pupils' performances decline as students climb up the educational ladder toward college. "We seem to be the only country in the world whose children fall farther behind the longer they stay in school" ("Nation" 1). Yet, just comparing our students to international standards does not divulge the whole story.
This system is pretty shocking for me because I was excited about coming to the United States for my education. Since I am a little bit of a nerd and I love learning. I was expecting a better education since this country is what some called a “first world country“, but the education here is pretty bad. I am saying this because in my country, I was getting some really hard math class and the best grade I ever got in that math class was a 70 and remember that I was taking pre-calculus when I was on ninth grade, but when I went to high school, all my grades jumped to 100. In fact, this was also true in on all my other classes because of the poor educational system in this country. It not only affects, high school it also applies to their community colleges because they are pretty much the same. A perfect example for this is that last semester I had a 3.7 GPA and I never really studied for anything but math. And I even got invited to join to PTK, an honor society. This I just the perfect example of how broken the educational system is in this country
In Kristin Butcher’s article “The Effects of an Anti-Grade Inflation Policy at Wellesley College” she states, “Based in part on grades, students make choices about how hard to work, courses, majors, and careers. Graduate schools make choices about whom to admit and employers make choices about whom to hire”(1). By participating in Grade inflation this is helping professors, students, and schools succeed. Students will receive good grades so they can pursue in post education practices. Teachers and school reputations will remain high. Teachers and schools want to give a good impression and in order to do that they need to produce something that all students want, a good grade. Some say grade inflation helps show students they are smart and capable of working hard and receiving good grades. This motivates them to work harder to keep those high grades. Grade inflation also gives students the opportunity to apply them selves to the next level University. But is this really helping a student succeed? How are they going to succeed if they have not gained any knowledge? It is not right for someone to give a student a grade they do not deserve. Stuart Rojstaczer in “Grade inflation Gone wild” has an interesting opinion on students. He says, “When students walk into a classroom knowing they can go through the motions and get a B+ or better, that’s what they tend to do, give minimal effort”(75). This is a great point because in today’s society too many people just give bare minimum effort because that’s all they have been taught. Students need to learn as much as possible and be challenged so they can succeed in the future. Like Rojstaczer said all Grade Inflation is doing is making lazy students, teaching one to give no effort because everything is given. This is setting students up for failure in the future, as work does not come easy for the everyday