In the education field, there has been so much debate lately about the problems students are facing in their future due to grade inflation. To sum it up, the concern is that too many students are getting A's without actually having a working knowledge of the topic. This point is typically brought up when people are debating the merits, or lack thereof, of using standardized tests to rate a student's level of mastery.
But, somewhere in the middle, there are those who think that the problems isn't that too many students are getting undeserved As, but rather that students are being taught that getting a good grade is point of going to school. In a thoughtfully written article, titled The Cost of Overemphasizing Achievement, Alfie Khon delves into this very concern.
In his article, Kohn says that there are several disadvantages to making grade the goal. Here are a few of them:
- Students think of learning as a chore- When the focus is on completing specific tasks and making a grade, they stop exploring and start focusing on getting the grade. For example, if students are studying something because it will be on the test, they don't absorb as much as if they were focused on learning more about the topic.
- Students avoid challenges- If the goal is to keep a high grade point average, there is little motivation to try something new or take a challenging subject. It is much more likely that the challenge will lower the GPA. This makes them think of new materials in terms of how well they'll do rather than what they will learn.
- Student may think less deeply- If the goal is to learn new material and explore a topic, students are more likely to think about what they are doing and how it relates to the larger picture. When the goal is to pass a test on the material, the process changes into remembering the key points.
- Students may lose hope if they fail- When grades are used to determine success, receiving a lower grade than they are accustomed to can make a student fall apart. They see that they have done something wrong and need to fix it, rather than understanding that you can't learn anything effectively without making some mistakes.
- Students value ability more than effort- When a student makes a good grade, they receive praise. Conversely, when they get a bad grade, they are scolded. But the difference between getting a C in a class you had to work hard in compared to an A that was easy to achieve is huge. The hard C is better for the confidence of the student. As for the A, often the student will attribute it to good luck.
I don't think that there is a way to eliminate grades from the classroom, but it would be interesting to see if there is a way to find common ground between the two schools of thought.
What do you think about the emphasis on achievement? Do you think that grades are a useful and accurate reflection of how a student is doing in school? Let me know in the comments.
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By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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