Grades of Wrath: Why Schools Should Switch to a Pass/Fail Grading System

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Recommended: • A brief explanation regarding the effect of motivation on behavior and academic achievement among adolescent students

Once a person graduates from law school, before they can begin working as a lawyer they have to take a test called the Bar. The test is not graded with A’s; B’s, C’s, D’s, or F’s and instead is graded by the pass-fail system. Once the test is graded it shows that the person either passed the Bar or failed the Bar. What is important with the Bar is that persons passes which indicates the competency of their understanding of the material to use it in the real world. Whereas the current letter grading system shows who understood the material. The pass-fail system should also be implemented in all U.S. high schools, this revolutionary idea that is practical in nature would benefit students because letter grades can cause unneeded stress and do not accurately measure the practical knowledge and intelligence level of students. The letter grading system has been in existence for many years and has become a major factor in every student’s educational career. Parents support the system because it shows them where their children place in school. Another reason for the system is to motivate students to get higher grades in order to outperform themselves on each quarter’s grades. This supposedly encourages students to excel. The letter grading system also functions as a way for colleges to rank applicants and determines outperforming students who are eligible for academic scholarships. Some might say for these reasons the letter grading system is reliable and has continued to work over the years. Furthermore, supporters of the current letter grading system may believe that replacing it and implementing the pass fail system in all U.S high schools would be a poor decision. People who contend that in the pass fail system students would not... ... middle of paper ... ...ited Anderman, Eric M., et al. “Motivation and Cheating During Early Adolescence.” uky.edu. Journal of Education Psychology, 1998, Web, 20 Nov. 2011. Bloodgood, Robert A., et al. “A Change to Pass/Fail Grading in the First Two Years at One Medical School Results in Improved Psychological Well-Being.” journals.lww.com. Academic Medicine 84.5, 2009 Web. 16 Nov.2011. Boyden, Christie and Alex Withrow. “High Grades: How Adderall Is Hiding under the Radar and Damaging Our Students.” loudouni.com. Loudouni, 23 July 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2011 Ramires, Eddy. “Cheating on the Rise among High School Students.” usnews.com. U.S. News, 2 Dec. 2008. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. Rohe, Daniel E., et al. “The Benefits of Pass-Fail Grading on Stress, Mood, and Group Cohesion in Medical Students.” mayoclinicproceedings.com. Mayo Clinic, Nov. 2006. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

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