“Why Do We Get Grades In School?” video by PBS Studios
In this video by PBS Studios, it discusses the origin of
what we students are so fondly familiar of: letter grades. According to our
informative host, it seems that a professor named Ezra Stiles is behind this
polarizing practice that has made students dread report card day for centuries.
It’s interesting to learn that the system wasn’t standardized for widespread
use for some time. I myself think it would make a world of difference if we were
still assigned value to our academic efforts with “descriptive adjectives” instead
of the number scale we are so used to seeing. I can see how systems for grading
performance and improvement in school is important and necessary, but it is a
shame that it holds so much weight in terms of someone’s mental health. Most
intriguing were questions 3 and 4 in this short video: Do grades really matter?
Are they actually effective tools for helping students learn? I think they are
in a sense, a single paper blueprint for the type of student someone is, but as
this woman states it tells a limited story about someone’s educational journey.
A high GPA does, in theory, require a vigorous work ethic but I find it hard to
believe that someone can deduce who a person is from a paper alone. I
appreciate that this woman discusses the difference between those who succeed with
and without having proved themselves in a standard classroom because as she
notes there are those who “conform” and climb the ladders of a career and those
who are “visionaries” who make their own ladder.
I am all about Alfie Kohn’s perspective on creating creative
and critical thinkers through “qualitative accounts of student performance.” This
concept of hands-on versus hands-off teaching with a goal of encouraging
students to chase personal improvement rather than arbitrary grades makes me
consider those progressive teachers and mentors in my life who have helped me to
pin less of my self-worth on a standardized system. I think of progress
reports from my childhood when narrative type breakdowns of a students progress
was more prevalent, and one on one conferences with gifted instructors of mine
who worked to target and correct where my work went wrong, and professors that
give sufficient opportunity for making up academic losses with the intention
that we actually go back and work on our weakest areas. There are advantages
and disadvantages, but I think even if our schools are entrenched in a quantitative
system so long as there are teachers that help their students in the ways
listed above there will be students better equipped and more enthusiastic for
their futures.
(Image Source: Pixabay Stock Photos)
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