Bleh…grades. Sometimes I wonder if we are our grades. Parents care about them. Colleges care about them. We care about them, sometimes to the extent that a B could make us feel like a failure or hurt our self-worth. But why do they have to matter so much?
No matter how hard a student works in a class, no matter how much they actually learn and understand by the end of the school year, a poor job on a project or test is enough to push an A down to a B, a B to a C, or, in some cases, a D to an F. How can anyone expect a tiny little letter to give an accurate report of how much a student learned? If someone comes into Spanish I as a fluent speaker, he won’t learn anything at all, but he’ll definitely get an A. On the other end, a student with a learning disability might put in an enormous amount of effort into the class and learn a lot about the material, but still only pull out a C.
Good grades are given to certain types of learners: most commonly, those who can sit still and memorize information for a test. I don’t know about anyone else out there, but in some classes (Chemistry? Biology? Any science class I’ve ever had?) I’ve worked insanely hard to memorize material and do well on the exams, only to forget it weeks later. What’s the point of spending 8+ hours in school each day if the only purpose is to process material through one’s head, like a factory? That’s not enjoyable; that’s not even effective. It’s no wonder kids don’t care about school with a grading system like this – the black and white, no-room-for-error technique doesn’t even accurately convey progress and achievement.
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t even have grades, but instead teachers that were willing to write up detailed and personalized reports of how a student grew and improved, what his or her strengths were, and what he or she needed more work on. I’m sure some teachers would be willing to do this, but colleges wouldn’t be willing to read them. What university that gets tens of thousands of applicants a year would be cool with sitting down and analyzing page after page of personalized reports? It would be ridiculous.
Still, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be idealistic and wish for a system without the inflexibility of grades. It would be great to have a more introspective, personalized way of learning that focused more on discovery and progress. In a society of time-pressed and lazy people, however, cold, clear-cut letters are the easiest way (if not the most innacurate) to measure achievement. And while most teachers and students would likely be fine with an alternative learning style, administrations and colleges wouldn’t. Unfortunately, seeing that most of us want to go to college, we’re going to have to pander to their wants.
…I think that was more that four hundered words. Dang.
First, here is the website that I got my information from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21qanda.html?ref=business
I think the bailout plan is a difficult thing for the American people to think about because it is a necessary but completely unpleasant decision.
Here is a problem created by big business and rich, risk-taking citizens, not the middle class. Had banks been more cautious and certain investors less reckless, we might not find ourselves in this position. Here we are, though, teetering on the edge of economic downfall because of miscalculated decisions – and the average taxpayers are whom America is depending on for its rescue. It’s only natural that people feel cheated, even furious – but is there anything we can do? Though 700 billion is an enormous amount of money, we may just need to wince and get on with our lives. After all, if major mortgage and banking companies are forced to close down, the American economy might face a downfall rivaled by the Great Depression, and no one wants that. The only problem is that no one knows for sure what the consequences of doing nothing would be. Though America could have an economic disaster, there is a chance nothing could happen at all. 700 billion is a lot of money to pay on a prediction, and it will weigh heavily on taxpayers’ wallets, which is why it is such a controversial bill. However, in this case, it may be better to assume the worst would happen and pass the bill. Having less money every month is still preferable to not having any at all.
