Education

When people go to work, they get a salary. When they go to school, they receive an award. However, at work you get paid for being present, and there is no evaluation of the work you have done. While at school you get an award for the quality of work you have done with specific evaluation of each particular participant. Many authors discuss about the necessity of evaluation in the school system. They use grades as their reference point, and they argue over its importance in the system. I refer to two articles: “The Farce called ‘Grading’,” and “Grades and Self-Esteem.” The author of each article has a different view about grades in the American educational system. Is that necessary to have a controversy about grading students? I believe that students deserve a grade for their work.

The author, Arthur E. Lean, in his article, “The Farce called ‘Grading’ ” objected to the idea of grading students. He believed that they used grades the system scholar in order to reward and punish students (p. 132). He stated that the tendency of grading was to humiliate and make the less intelligent student pay for his or her incapacity to learn even if it wasn’t his or her fault (p. 132). To emphasize his point of view about the unimportance of grades in the system scholar, he declared, “In spite of the staggering amount of incontrovertible evidence that grading not only does not accomplish its purpose, but in realty inhibits and injures the educative process, we obstinately continue with this perverted practice (p. 132).”

In my opinion, Arthur’s view that they should eliminate grading in academic evaluation is wrong. The author based his own experience to make a generalization about the procedure of grading. He explained his experience as a teacher when he was called to participate in an evaluation of a student work in order to establish a standard for evaluation (p.131). Because there were different results for the same paper, Arthur believed that the grading system was unfair. I cannot share the idea of unfairness of grading with Arthur. I believe that every teacher has his own method of teaching. Consequently, every teacher will judge a paper according to this method of teaching. I think that only the teacher who has taught a student can really give a fair grade to the student because the student is only following the instruction of the teacher. I cannot support the generalization approach made by the author when he points out, ”Every person who has ever gone to school can cite numerous instances of unfairness and injustice caused by grading system and practices, but for some strange reason we seem it to assume it to be necessary and intrinsic to the process of formal education.”

As a student myself, I have not marked with an unfair grade. I think that when a teacher dispenses a course, he expects to see on his student’s paper the lesson he has taught. The teacher can easily see if a student is following his method, so Arthur ignores the fact that every teacher has his own style. He is completely wrong when he uses the example of the student’s paper to convince the readers’ opinion.

Unlike Arthur, Randy Moore presents a different view of grading in his article “Grades and Self-Esteem. ” He believes that grades are important because we can judge the quality of work of a student (136). Therefore, he accuses the supporter of self-esteem who gives grades to protect the student’s self-esteem. He states, “To avoid feeling bad, these teachers lower their standards so that virtually all students meet them, regardless of the student’ s performance.” He explains that the cause of failure in the quality work in America is due to the objective of the “school’s building self-esteem instead of education (136). Moore refutes the idea of giving grades without merit. He states, “I argue that self-esteem is earned and that schools, despite their good intentions, cannot dispense it as a packaged handout.” He proves in that statement that he is in favor of grading students, and he supports high standards to evaluate students in order to prepare better students for the success in their work

On the other hand, Moore in his article explains the practice of unfairness in the grading method of the American education without supporting it. For instance, he criticizes the disciples of self-esteem who attempt to make courses “nonjudgmental”(136). Such practice tends to join the idea of Arthur who believes that giving a grade is unfair and incalculable (131).

Moore is correct when he says, “We cheat students out of a quality education and give parents false hopes about their child’s intellectual skills.” I think that giving a grade to a student that doesn’t deserve it helps neither the student nor society. My own experience has shown me that grades are important in any system of education. As a student, I expect to receive a grade for any work that I have done. When I get a grade, I have an idea of how much I understand the class. I believe that if schools were running without giving grades to students, many students would not bother to attend.

Each author has a different view about grades in the American educational system. Arthur believes that they should eliminate grades because it is unfair and unworkable. Moore supports the idea of using higher standards to evaluate students. In this topic, he is in favor of grading. Both authors present arguments to prove their points, but I’m unable to endorse Arthur’s point of view because for myself, grades help me determine the degree of knowledge that I acquire. Therefore, I support the point of view of Moore who believes that students will improve if we require them to exceed higher standards.