Assignment 4- Argument Assignment

Grades are not everything

The current grading system just takes the free will out of education

We are often told by our parents and teachers from time to time that in order be successful in life, we need to get good grades. To get a good Job, we need good grades and to earn more than our peers, we need to get good grades. Such is the state of our current education system. The pressure of getting good grades starts right from our childhood and goes on till we graduate which invariably has a negative effect both physically and mentally on children. In pursuit of getting good grades, students often indulge in cheating and unhealthy behavior which defeats the whole purpose of getting a good grade, which is learning and free will.

Grading students, from A to F, has become synonymous with education itself. The structure of the current grading system is believed to be the biggest culprit in America’s long, steady decline in education (Thomsen, 2013). According to a study conducted at the university of Michigan in 2002, almost 80 percent of students surveyed based their self-worth on academic performance more than family support as a source of self-esteem. Similar study at King’s college in 2006 showed adolescents with low self-esteem were more likely to have poor health, be involved in criminal behavior, and earn less than their peers (Thomsen, 2013). This should be a wake-up call to the schools and colleges which evaluate a student’s performance based on their grades, as it is no way empowering a student to perform better.

The pressure of making good grades often leads students to indulge in off-counter stimulants and ADHD treatments drugs for study purposes. Recent studies suggest that 1 in 20 North American university students have engaged themselves in drugs such as Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta or Focalin for studying purposes in the past (Abelman, 2018). Though good grades are important to maintaining a GPA high enough to stay in school or to get into graduate and professional school, however, the pressure of getting a good grade often leads to consumption of study drugs, anxiety and stress, excessive consumption of caffeine and going days without sleep which surprisingly are now accepted parts of college (Pestello, 2015). It is important to bring a change in the current education system and to draw a distinction between good grades and learning. A good grade on a test does not guarantee that a student has learned anything. We need to understand that students do not attend college to get good grades but to gain knowledge necessary to the future (Pestello, 2015).

Willingness to take on challenging tasks diminishes when grades are involved, but without grades, students left on their own tend to seek out more challenging problems. So, we need to propose an education system built around independent study, community service, large dosses of privacy and solitude, [and] a thousand different apprenticeships. Schools built on these values have flourished in the margins of state-funded graded education throughout the 20^th century. There is an urgent need to adopt the education system of Montessori schools which are noted for their lack of grades, multiage classes, and extended periods where students get to choose their own projects from a selected range of materials. These schools have educated many of today’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, including Google’s Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales, Business management legend Peter Drucker and Video game Icon Will Wright which goes on to prove the point of this editorial that an education system without grades are much more beneficial for a student’s personal growth and overall development (Thomsen, 2013). The below poem by a 16-year old student named Mohannie holds testament to the fact that our current education system is flawed.

Let. Me. Live.

I want to Live in a life

Where grades don’t cut like a Knife.

I want to not live in a place

Where only the smartest win the race

I want to not have a number define who I am

And to be compared or cry over an exam

I want to be equal, despite all my flaws

Than to feel ripped apart by your hurtful claws

I want you to listen, and your attention you will give.

I am not defined by my grades so please just

Let.

Me.

Live.

In conclusion we need to build an education system which focuses more on learning than Grades. An A to F grade scale is only a distraction from the learning process.

                                                                     References:

·       Abelman, D. (2018) Why are students using study drugs, and what can we do about it? Retrieved from https://www.cpha.ca/why-are-students-using-study-drugs-and-what-can-we-do-about-it

·       Thomsen, M. (2013). The Case Against Grades: They lower self-esteem, discourage creativity, and reinforce the class divide. Retrieved from https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/05/the-case-against-grades-they-lower-self-esteem-discourage-creativity-and-reinforce-the-class-divide.html

·       Pestello, R. (2015). Grades Are Not Everything: Take a breath. Just breathe for a minute. Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/grades-are-not-everything

·       Mohannie. (2018). Let.Me.Live (Poem). Retrieved from https://hellopoetry.com/words/grades/