The Benefits Of Fixing The Grading System

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Colleges today still teach us what we need to know, but the focus is on making an A rather than truly learning. Maybe that focus has shifted because teachers and other adults have put the importance on making that 4.0 GPA, maybe it is because students have become lazy in a sense, or maybe its because students have learned that the grading system is not always fair and have adjusted their learning to what each teacher wants to read. I believe that it is the last one, I think it is time to focus on fixing the grading system.
Author Scott Jaschik wrote an article “Getting out of Grading” on the grading system, and how a teacher who was returning to teaching implemented a different method of grading. Professor Cathy Davidson’s reasoning for …show more content…

The concept of this grading method is based on the students understanding and how they demonstrate it. If they have a full understanding and can demonstrate they’ll get an A if not then the grade will go down based on how much of an understanding the student demonstrates. However, with this grading system, a student can learn what exactly a teacher is wanting to read or see, and they focus on those elements without focusing on the whole lesson (493). As a student myself there are many times that I look back on my education and can say I fell into the habit of learning what each teacher was looking for and only focusing on those elements. Although I was learning everything I should have been, I was learning some important aspects of the subject being taught. Well, I was learning what the teacher thought was important, and if he or she deemed it important I trusted that. This style of grading can be helpful and it does teach students, however, this new style of grading introduced by professor Davidson is effective and encourages students to learn the information for themselves