Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Curren 51- Reading Analysis
I have always had a bad feeling about grading. After reading this chapter it only brought those feelings out more and made me realize that other people may feel similar to me. Like it said in the chapter, since Kindergarten we are viewed as students based on our grades. Whether they be "good" or "bad", they determine which classes we take, whether we can advance or not and our overall image we are given by teachers. I was very taken with the story of John and William at Columbia. I feel strongly that John should have be given a degree also. Who is to say that because he does poorly on tests, that he is not just as qualified as William. I know personally, I have very bad test anxiety, especially when it comes to Math. I had to take all of my math tests in high school and college in a room by myself. That didn't mean I didn't understand the material just as well as the other students. I have seen it so many times; a student does poorly on their tests, but if you sit and speak with them, they know the material forwards and backwards. With the example of the physics class in college when the grade of 38 was given- why do grades even matter when a 38 (failing grade) goes from a C to a B. The teacher just made it into whatever he wanted to, so why even give a grade? I believe that there should not be grades for anything. I think that all assignments and course grades should be pass/fail. Teachers know who knows the material and who does not. I don't believe in ranking, I think it only decreases students confidence and it puts too much pressure on the grades and not on learning. Anyone can study and memorize information long enough to take a test. But if there wasn't such a huge emphasis on grades, students would actually listen and learn and remember, not memorize.
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I too have always had this eerie feeling about grades and am trying to remember what Dr. Green told us last semester in EDUC 605 about putting so much emphasis on grades, good or bad idea?!?!
I can relate to the test anxiety and have also seen how much it can either make or break a student, a lot of times when I have spent days on end studying for a test there is still the chance that I would not do so well. Does this mean that I did not know the material well enough to pass? No. It only means that I, like most people, get nervous and have test anxiety!
Should assignments or class be given a pass/fail type of grade? Here is where I have a problem. For me, this would involve a large amount of overall judgement at the end of the grading period or school year. While you would have a couple, maybe a few, numbers to go by when making the judgement call, I believe that helps if you decide to use the pass/fail system instead of the traditional letter one.
Unforunately, in my content area (History/Social Studies), there is a lot of memorization of names, dates, and places. I will agree with you when you say "anyone can study and memorize information long enough to take a test. But if there wasn't such a huge emphasis on grades, students would actually listen and learn and remember, not memorize". I would rather have a student listen, learn, and remember such historical fact than to just memorize for a test and end up discarding it before the next one.
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