Do grades reflect the student?
Theresa Radtke
Issue date: 4/5/07 Section: Opinion
Do grades reflect the student? In Eminence, Ky. a student has the opportunity to either receive an “A” or “B” grade or they fail.
The school proposed this to the district, having already outlawed “D’s” in the past. Now wanting to get rid of the “C,” they hope to improve the potential of each student. Eliminating the “C” grade, which will be voted on around this time, would mean students would need to earn 80% or higher to pass.
Receiving grades in school for work is like rewarding a trained monkey. Students are trained to do what their teachers will like so in turn, the students will get a good grade.
Eliminating the “D” grade was wrong to do in the first place. “C” grades are supposed to mean average. What if a person is below the average? Are they supposed to just retake every class they can’t make the passing grade in?
I have to wonder what teachers across the country think of this new policy that is starting to get attention. I am a bit shocked. As a student I would feel trapped, cornered, stressed to make the grade. In Maryland and Florida two school districts had to abolish the newly tried out grading system because too many students were failing.
Urs R. Haltinner, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout said, “You are not the grade, you are the composite of everything you put on the table.”
Apart from the obvious, that I think almost every student would struggle under this way of grading, what about students with learning disabilities? If they were incapable of making the “B” grade I would hate to think that they should just be pushed aside. Grades do not show the education a student in America has acquired over their school career.
“I believe it requires a sense of belonging, worth, value and hope on the part of learners and teachers. It has been my experience that grades can be a very imprecise means of certifying a student’s capacity to know, do or appreciate/value,” said Haltinner. It is a case with two sides fighting, book smarts over street smarts. Lessons learned over material memorized.
I am not sure what administrators or the government is trying to do with education in high school by pulling out grades. If students ever make it past high school there will be another problem: getting through college. Soon they will raise tuition further from what it already is. Oh wait, they are.
In conclusion, I would just like to point out that when students go to school they should be appreciated for their individuality. Most students under the grading system of “A” or “B” would not fit into the two categories. Most importantly though, how will students learn if they are not allowed to make mistakes?
The school proposed this to the district, having already outlawed “D’s” in the past. Now wanting to get rid of the “C,” they hope to improve the potential of each student. Eliminating the “C” grade, which will be voted on around this time, would mean students would need to earn 80% or higher to pass.
Receiving grades in school for work is like rewarding a trained monkey. Students are trained to do what their teachers will like so in turn, the students will get a good grade.
Eliminating the “D” grade was wrong to do in the first place. “C” grades are supposed to mean average. What if a person is below the average? Are they supposed to just retake every class they can’t make the passing grade in?
I have to wonder what teachers across the country think of this new policy that is starting to get attention. I am a bit shocked. As a student I would feel trapped, cornered, stressed to make the grade. In Maryland and Florida two school districts had to abolish the newly tried out grading system because too many students were failing.
Urs R. Haltinner, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout said, “You are not the grade, you are the composite of everything you put on the table.”
Apart from the obvious, that I think almost every student would struggle under this way of grading, what about students with learning disabilities? If they were incapable of making the “B” grade I would hate to think that they should just be pushed aside. Grades do not show the education a student in America has acquired over their school career.
“I believe it requires a sense of belonging, worth, value and hope on the part of learners and teachers. It has been my experience that grades can be a very imprecise means of certifying a student’s capacity to know, do or appreciate/value,” said Haltinner. It is a case with two sides fighting, book smarts over street smarts. Lessons learned over material memorized.
I am not sure what administrators or the government is trying to do with education in high school by pulling out grades. If students ever make it past high school there will be another problem: getting through college. Soon they will raise tuition further from what it already is. Oh wait, they are.
In conclusion, I would just like to point out that when students go to school they should be appreciated for their individuality. Most students under the grading system of “A” or “B” would not fit into the two categories. Most importantly though, how will students learn if they are not allowed to make mistakes?
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