As a first-year college student, it has become apparent to me that getting good grades is every student's main goal. That doesn't really sound like a bad thing, right? Well, I have many more goals as a student than just getting good grades. What even defines a good grade? How can it be achieved? By getting more questions right than a classmate? By being able to memorize more information? The grading system is degrading. It seems to me that students are more concerned about getting a good grade than truly learning the material. Our grading system is completely unfair and holds serious issues. Here are the two that I’m the most upset by:
Grades are inadequate indicators of knowledge.
There is an implicit understanding throughout the education system that grades are an accurate indicator of a student’s level of knowledge and capability. It's like there is an unwritten rule that getting straight As makes someone smart. Students try to earn grades with an understanding of the difference between a “good” and “bad” grade. But this understanding is not close to what the role of grades should really be.
The function of a grade should be to convey the dexterity of a student’s performance, but in reality, grades do everything but that. At best, our current grading system provides a tiny look at how a student is performing in a course. But a simple letter grade or GPA doesn’t actually provide the student with any purposeful criticism or feedback based on the work they have provided in regards to their capacity of knowledge and understanding of the material. Grades should include an entire spectrum of a student's performance -- including how much they have improved their knowledge over time, how well they are able to apply the information they’ve retained, and how much the student shows that they really understand the material.
Teachers use the same grading system for every student, but every student learns and advances differently. So how is this fair? It’s not. There is such a great variation of grades from student to student, class to class, region to region (etc.), that it can’t possibly be measured on one single scale. Everyone is different. Everyone has different learning techniques and processes information different ways. Some techniques work for some people while other techniques work for others, and that’s okay. In reality, grading every student’s abilities the exact same way is impossible. Each student is unique and should be graded individually based on their personal academic abilities and advancements. Not based on how their work compares to other student’s. The grading system is degrading.
Aversion of inherent motivation because of grades.
The average student's main goal when getting an education is the grade they will receive at the end of the assignment, course, or semester. This mentality conveys the idea that the journey itself is less important than the destination, in the sense that the grade we earn is more important than what we learn while working to achieve that grade. Look at it this way: when asking a student “Would you rather get a B in a class in which you learned a great amount of material and gained a better understanding of the subject, or get an easy A in a class and learn nothing?” Most college students would rather get an A, and move on. Some students are even willing to cheat their way to getting an A, rather than actually absorb the information and apply it themselves. This is outrageous to me.
Our grading system completely destroys the motivation that all students should have to learn. Isn't the whole point of going to school to become educated about the field of work in which you plan to have a career? It costs a fortune to obtain a degree, and many students spend their time in school aimlessly managing their way through classes, doing whatever they can to get As and Bs. The point of taking a class is to learn! However, learning is seldom a student’s motivation because of our grading system.
What is our goal as students? To succeed. If you ask a student what it means to succeed in school, you will often hear, “getting good grades” or “being a straight A student.” We, as students, have become so obsessed with grades (which don’t even truly measure our knowledge), that we forget what getting an education is really about.
Education is defined in the dictionary as “a body of knowledge acquired while being educated.” Nowhere in the definition does it mention grades. It does, however, mention knowledge. All students should have this mentality about schooling. We are in school to get an education. To learn.
The main focus of school for us students should be to obtain as much knowledge as possible, to be the best students we can be, and to reach out for help when we need it so we can truly succeed and become experts in our field. We go to school to learn, not to get good grades, and I think it’s important that students are reminded of this by making a change to the grading system.
