20 Mar 2009
Grade system at schools and colleges has both, its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, grades are a kind of stimulus for students. They encourage students to study better because competing with each other for grades students, even unconsciously, improve their results in different subjects. However, despite these advantages grade system is not perfect. First of all, students are more oriented on grades than on the subject itself. Many students study only to get good grades. They attend all lectures, are active at seminars and at last get an A but they will never open their lecture or read a book in this sphere when the course is over. It is studying for studying, not for knowledge.
Robert Borkat, a prominent professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University, in her article A Liberating Curriculum proposes her own system of grading which he tries to apply nowadays. The plan is the following: every students gets A as a final grade at the end of the second week of the semester. “Then their minds will be relieved of anxiety, and they will be free to do whatever they want for the rest of the term” (Borkat).
In such a way all the unconscious students or students who do not need this subject will omit it, while the rest of the group (which definitely will be the minority) will attend the classes. These people are really interested in this sphere and it is their conscious choice to attend these lectures. As a result, everybody is satisfied: those students who need grades become grades, those who need knowledge become knowledge and professors do not spend their time for nothing. Students attending universities must be already conscious of what they need and what they want, this system without grades will simplify their life because useless subjects will be omitted and they will have time for the important subjects.
Professors will also take profit from such state of events. They will not be unhappy because some students do not attend classes and some are not interested in the subject. Moreover, they will not be “writing, grading and explaining examinations; grading hundred of papers a semester; holding private conferences with students; reading countless books, buying extra materials to give students a feeling for the music, art and clothes of the past century” (Borkat). Professors will work for their pleasure, while students will learn for their pleasure.
Borkat emphasizes that studying is not an easy task and not everybody can manage to do it. Nevertheless, in theory Borkat’s innovative system sounds very attractive but it is much more difficult to realize it in practice. Firstly, not all students are conscious about their professional choice while being at the university and so they may miss important courses. Secondly, university is a place in which mass instinct places a significant role. Most students at their age can be easily influenced by a social leader. This social leader attends courses necessary for him and the mass of students follow him. Thirdly, a lot of disciplines relate to the students’ future professions only indirectly but, in fact, are important for them. Students can be misguided by such state of events.
John Taylor Gatto, New York State Teacher, also proposes his system of teaching. First of all, he does not make an emphasis on the grades but rather suggests preparing pupils and students for the grown-up life. He gives seven lessons for pupils during their schooling. He suggests removing pupils from lower classes into higher ones as a kind of reward. It will show them a model of modern company organization. Workers being successful at their workplace have a chance for the professional growth. However, this transformation is possible only in one percent of ninety-nine, while Gatto also makes an accent on one class position as a component of the successful education: “In spite of the overall class blueprint, which assumes that ninety-nine percent of the kids are in their class to stay, I nevertheless make a public effort to exhort children to higher levels of test success, hinting at eventual transfer from the lower class as a reward” (Gatto). Another important thing while studying is indifference. It presumes that pupils do not take everything at school too serious. They stay active participants at lessons but are not too much anxious and disappointed about their failures and bad grades.
According to Gatto, the traditional system of schooling with its grade structure, which was invented so many years ago, is not appropriated for the modern society. School curriculum and schedule limits all children’s freedoms, prevents them from any creative approach. “All the peripheral tendencies of childhood are nourished and magnified to a grotesque extent by schooling, which, through its hidden curriculum, prevents effective personality development. Indeed, without exploiting the fearfulness, selfishness, and inexperience of children, our schools could not survive at all, nor could I as a certified schoolteacher” (Gatto). Gatto gives a number of arguments why the traditional system is inappropriate in the modern society. Our life has changed greatly and so the school system should also have been changed.
To sum up, although the traditional grade system at school has a number of disadvantages now it cannot be replaced by any other appropriate system. Education without grades would allow to orientate pupils and students on the subjects and their future profession rather than good grades and it would develop cooperation instead of confrontation among children. It would also give students more freedom of choice which they lack so much in the traditional system of education. However, grade system also has a number of advantages. Grades always encourage children to study better, to get more knowledge while competing for high grades. Grades are especially important at school. Pupils being not always conscious of the necessity of knowledge are controlled by their parents and only grades allow parents to be aware of their children’s failures and successes. Also, grades help teachers and professors to discipline their pupils and students and serve as a good stimulus.
Nowadays grades are the most appropriate weapon of knowledge evaluation. Grades are an important component for an employer in the process of workers’ recruitment because they show the person’s progress during all his schooling life. The system of grades cannot be cut down at least today because there has not been found an adequate replacement yet. The numerous debates and thoughts on this subject stay only on the theoretical level and while applying them in practice we see that they have a number of serious drawbacks.
Works Cited
Borkat, Roberta F. a Liberating Curriculum. Retrieved May 8, 2008 from http://learning.nwc.hccs.edu/members/mark.tiller/education-articles/a-liberating-curriculum.jpg/image_ view_fullscreen.
Gatto, John Taylor. The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher. Retrieved May 8, 2008 from http://hometown.aol.com/tma68/7lesson.htm.
Wetzel, M.C. & McNaboe, K.A.. Public and private partnerships in an alternative middle
school program. Preventing School Failure, 1997, 41 (4), 179-184.
Custom essay writing services ESSAY-911.com. Buy essays online!
Tags: Paper, writing
