I have always tried to earn good grades in school, and when I didn’t, I worked to make them better. This work ethic began in high school when I realized the importance of my grades. I knew…
When someone asks you why earning a higher grade in class is important to receive, your first response might be to help increase your grade point average (GPA). But why is a high GPA so coveted? Is it to get into a good post graduate school? But then why is this important? You would probably respond by saying to create more opportunities for yourself when it comes to a career to venture in. These are the questions that Steven Vogel dives into, and gets to the point that through all of these questions lead up to one underlying factor that grades are money and learning is what is paid for. He believes students will attempt to maximize…
There has been a debate regarding whether struggling students should repeat a grade. Proponents point out that grade retention gives another chance for the student in trouble to “get it right” the second time. On the other hand, opponents argue that the harms retention bring outweigh the benefits. Though there are valid arguments on both sides of this issue, those who disagree with grade retention policy have a strong case for the following reasons:…
All the way up till 5th grade I thought grades were nothing. Until my brother came home with all A's. I remembered all the years previous when my brother came home with A's on that day I realized grades would matter soon. My brother never gives up on his grades I realize that after 7 years if him coming home with all A's.…
We live in a society that uses grades as a reflection of learning. Grades are supposed to show how well you know a subject, but is that what they really show? In our society it has become more about getting the grade than actually learning the subject. What impact do grades even have on learning? Jerry Farber, a professor at the University of California wrote an article, titled “A Young Person’s Guide,” that discussed grades and the impact, or lack thereof, they have on learning. Farber is correct in saying that our school grading systems are terrible because grades are not an accurate representation of someone's knowledge.…
Ever since high school, I have struggled with school. After graduating high school, I graduated with a 1.7 GPA. I always knew I was an average student, so I accepted my GPA proudly. However after entering college, everything changed. I knew everything was going to be more difficult and demanding. Beyond all the hardships of academics, I was also going to have to pay for all of education by myself, because my parents could not afford it. This adversity made it extremely difficult for me to decide if I wanted to continue my education and enter college. However, despite my finical struggle I decide to continue my education and apply for college. I applied to Rockland Community College, where I wanted to work on increasing my GPA.…
Grades represent a standard of achievement and understanding, not just a memorization and regurgitation of…
The play “A Raisin in the Sun” reflects on Youngers, an African-American Family, who lived on the southern side of Chicago in the late 1950s. The play opens with the family receiving a $10,000 insurance check from Mr. Younger’s (the deceased) life insurance policy. Each member of the family is ready with an idea of what to use the money on (Hansberry, 11). For example, Mama has a dream of buying a house. On the other hand, Walter Lee who is Mama’s Son wants to invest in a Liquor store with his neighborhood friends. To him, investment is the only solution to saving the family from financial challenges (Hansberry, 12). Variously, Beneatha who is Lee’s Sister wishes to use the funds as…
At the beginning of ninth grade, I was slowly recovering from clinical depression, a cruel, brooding disorder that makes one feel as if they would be content with drowning in the endless unforgiving abyss of the ocean. Along with this pestering grim recovery came the stress and lingering anxiety of potentially failing a freshman math class. Mr. Albaugh, my ninth grade math teacher, was a fairly young, arrogant, but undoubtedly intelligent math teacher. He would always have some kind of smug retort to a student’s question, and upon the remark, “I do not…
“I should’ve done better,” I thought to myself as the teacher returned another bad grade. Maintaining good grades must be everyone’s motive in school, but in 8th grade…
I know that good grades are not everything because if I forget all of the information from the school year, all I will have to show for my high school career is a bunch of arbitrary numbers, however high they might be. I also continue to do learn, even when it may be difficult. This fall, a car ran into my house, destroying a room where I do most of my schoolwork. I obviously could not hand in the destroyed work, but I still made up all of my lost work in a timely manner and did not let my grades suffer. My passion for knowledge also extends outside of school.…
30(No. 6, 2005), 571-9. McKendall, M., Bhagwat, Y., Giedeman, D., Klien, H. & Lavenburg, N. “Identifying the Gap Between Student and Faculty Expectations: Report from a Business School,” Journal of the Academy of Business Education, 7(Spring, 2006), 44-51. Quann, C. J. “Plus-Minus Grading: A Cass Study and National Implications,” Washington, D. C.: American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. (1987), 1-17. Riley,H. J., Checca, R.C., Singer, T. S., & Worthington, D. F. “Current Trends in Grades and Grading Practices in Undergraduate Higher Education,” The results of the 1992 AACRAO Survey, New York, (1994), 1-76. Rotter, J. B. (1954), Social Learning and Clinical Psychology, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Singleton, R. Jr. & Smith, E. R. “Does Grade Inflation Decrease the Reliability of Grades?”, Journal of Educational Measurement, 15 (No. 1, 1978). pp. 37-40. Storelli-Castro, L. “How the Plus-Minus System Stole Christmas,” Rocky Mountain Collegian, (2006, March 8). Tolman, E. C. (1932), Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men, New York: Appleton-Century-Croft. Vroom, V. C. (1964), Work and Motivation, New York: John Wiley and Sons.…
Throughout my four years of high school I have always kept my grades up and I am very proud to say that I have maintained a GPA of a 3.6 and above. I have made honor roll all in all my semesters here at LHS. Getting good grades was never really a struggle for me until I got in the harder math classes like AP Statistics and Precalculus. Those were the only classes I struggled with because it takes me more time to comprehend the formulas and understand how to put them into practical use. But no matter what class I have taken I have always learned something new or something different that applies to not only my schoolwork but also the outside world. Knowing all of this knowledge will definitely help in my everyday life outside of highschool…
In the article, The Case against Grades, Alfie Kohn talks about how the grading system is deflecting the actual purpose of why students are interested in classes. He speaks on how grades tend to diminish students and create a preference for what a student has to aim for in his or hers course. I myself have experienced this in my academic life.…
Throughout everyone's journey through life they will experience at least one meaningful opportunity they had the privilege to take part in. These such experiences define who we are, which in turn grants us access to our mind that influences our own personal aspirations, educational, and career goals in the long term scale of life. It allows us to explore new levels of interest that we have not yet perceived before. Opportunities, such as a church mission trip, allowed me to broaden myself to be inspired to explore new career interest that I have not thought or explored before. In greater context this trip allowed me to spark my interest into a career field that I wish to pursue further on down my timeline at an early point in my high school career rather than later.…