What is wrong with sitting quietly in a classroom, minding your own business, learning, and doing well in a class? The answer is that absolutely nothing is wrong with that.
That is, until, the dreaded threat of a participation grade. If you’re anything like me, hearing that you would be graded based on your participation in a class was like hearing hell literally open up and threaten to swallow you whole. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but let’s just say I was never a fan of participation grades because I knew that they would cause my grade to suffer. The only reason I don’t like to participate in class is because I’m shy. Not because I don’t like the course, not because I don’t like the teacher, not because I’m not paying attention, but because having all eyes on me in an academic setting makes my skin crawl. Sometimes I try to participate, but by the time I’ve finally perfectly figured out what I want to say (sometimes by writing it down in the margins of my notebooks so I don’t mess it up), the more vocal and extroverted kids have already moved passed the topic or have said some variation of what I was going to say.
Speaking in front of a class makes me, and many other students, uncomfortable and anxious. This is the opposite of what a classroom environment should feel like. Teachers use the defense that grading for participation will encourage people to pay attention more in class and learn better by asking questions. My refutation is that if someone doesn’t want to pay attention in class- then that's on them! Their grade can suffer by their own doing, and forcing them to “pay attention” isn’t really going to work, anyway. Also, not everyone learns from asking questions. Some people learn by observation, and even the thought of asking a question in front of other people can cause an internal distraction or inability to pay attention.
No one's academic intelligence can truly be determined by how often they give an answer out loud or ask a question. The fact that someone can be doing well in a course, acing every test, completing every homework, and attending every class, can still fail solely because of their participation is ridiculous. You can understand and utilize the material perfectly but be told that you are failing. This just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, and it is discouraging to feel like you’re succeeding but be told that you are not.
In my opinion, I think that participation grades should be removed completely as a grading category. There are courses in which participation can be upwards of 20% of a grade- on the same level as quiz and homework grades. The difference is that with participation you are being graded socially rather than academically, and since when is that okay? Without a participation grade, there will still be students that raise their hands and become involved with class discussions as some people actually do learn better as they voice their questions and think out loud. However, this is definitely not the case with everyone, and every student should be given an equal chance to succeed.
