![\"\"](\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/pickagrade.jpg\")
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At many schools, faculty face tremendous pressure to pass students, even if those students never demonstrate understanding of the material\u2026even if they ever even show up. I\u2019ve certainly been at places where I felt I needed permission to fail students, both from the student and from admin. Every single time there\u2019s been a problem with grading in my career, it\u2019s been a complaint from a failing student.<\/p>\n
Now, obviously I can\u2019t speak for all of higher education, but it\u2019s well known that the standard grade in higher ed is A- (it was 2.55 in the 50\u2019s, but well past 3.2 nowadays). I\u2019m hardly the only faculty to have gotten the memo regarding grading.<\/p>\n
I recently covered a professor who stated explicitly on the syllabus that students could just pick their own grade<\/a>, among other things. He wasn\u2019t being serious, he\u2019d just had enough of admin telling him how to grade \u201cwith a wink and a nod,\u201d and simply wanted them to state in writing that they controlled grading. They fell for it, of course.<\/p>\n Other professors are following suit, although not as a ploy to make admin reveal themselves\u2026but simply because they\u2019re so tired of it.<\/p>\n I really feel the need to point out grades are a simple tool, represent essentially nothing in the long run (and not much in the medium or short run, either). I\u2019d love to pass everyone, give everyone an \u201cA,\u201d but bottom line they do such a good job in motivating kids to study harder, to learn more, to strive harder to achieve their goals that, even though I know ultimately they\u2019re a farce, I feel the benefits for using grades far outweigh the moral questions of treating things I know are useless as though they were of value, to manipulate people.<\/p>\n Just for fun, allow me to cite an article from 2010 regarding GPA<\/a>:<\/p>\n 5 Lowest Grade Point Averages<\/strong><\/em> 5 Highest Grade Point Averages<\/strong><\/em> –Hi Education Department. Again. At the risk of boasting, my undergraduate GPA was 3.54\u2014unimpressive by today\u2019s standards, but pretty good a couple score years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n Anyway, some professors are moving away from grades as motivational tools, and instead simply using them as a means of getting permission from students. More accurately, they\u2019re using them as just another form to fill out:<\/p>\n \u2018Contract grading\u2019 billed as revolutionary education practice<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Again, there\u2019s long been a push to take all subjectivity out of grading, and when I took a graduate level Education course as research for my book<\/a>, to a considerable extent, my \u2018A\u2019 grade was simply because I\u2019d checked off all the boxes for my \u201cresearch\u201d paper (even though doing so made for a far less readable work than anything on my blog).<\/p>\n Thing is, non-subjective grade is a fiction. It doesn\u2019t happen. Even in mathematics, there\u2019s considerable subjectivity in grading. Even a perfectly correct answer can be marked wrong for \u201cnot enough work shown,\u201d with \u201cenough\u201d being the key subjective concept there. Obviously, I make effort to be fair, but I\u2019m certain my attempts at fairness with integrity will be more beneficial than any attempt at fairness without integrity, which is what \u201ccontract grading\u201d gives.<\/p>\n \u201cContract grading\u201d refers to the professor telling the student exactly what the student needs to do to get a certain grade. Much like trying to distinguish \u201cdemocratic socialism\u201d from \u201csocialism,\u201d ultimately there\u2019s no difference between this and grading. The only real difference is now, when a student gets a grade he didn\u2019t like, the professor can say \u201ccontract,\u201d and hope for the best.<\/p>\n The article I\u2019m quoting from looks at a particular professor, who explains:<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the semester, if the student completed the specific work they said they would, at the satisfactory level, they receive the grade they planned to receive,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Did the gentle reader note the phrase \u201cat the satisfactory level\u201d in the above? That\u2019s the subjective part. I give A\u2019s to students who pass my tests at the satisfactory level, too, and I don\u2019t make any claim of using contract grading.<\/p>\n In her email, Gonzalez urged her former students to sign up for SPA 270, indicating that only two students have enrolled thus far and the class is in danger of being canceled.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI want to make sure you know about some important innovations I am introducing in the course [contract grading] so that you can decide today or as soon as possible whether you want to take SPA 270<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSPA 270\u201d is a Spanish Literature and Cultures course, and in this case it\u2019s clear the contract grading is being used simply to drive enrollments. I rather wish the professor luck, even if she also teaches the more popular Gender and Sexuality courses on campus as well.<\/p>\n Courses like SPA 270 used to be of more interest to students and had little need of grading gimmicks, but the skyrocketing tuition means students have no time for courses of little job relevance, especially as more ideological courses are becoming ever more mandatory, squeezing out time for students to study courses giving them a less politicized view of other things.<\/p>\n Naturally, contract grading has a study showing it\u2019s a great idea, and from such a study we learn contract grading is<\/p>\n \u201cused frequently, but discussed rarely. A Google search reveals a surprisingly large number of teachers who use some form of learning contract in various disciplines for diverse goals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n This is because to a large extent all grading is contract grading. A comment from a mathematics students explains ultimately why, even if contract grading really meant much more than just \u201cgrading,\u201d it still would be useless:<\/p>\n \u201cIt degrades trust in your achievement by outside authorities, including employers, grad schools, scholarships etc.,\u201d he told The College Fix. \u201cImagine if an employer saw that you got an A not because you were truly one of the best in the class but because you fulfilled some requirement YOU personally set. Would he really trust that A? I think not.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The article I\u2019m quoting from allows comments, and there are over 600 of them, none in support of this new-fangled idea. If people only knew that this type of grading is indeed increasingly common, where ultimately the degree is a matter of filling out forms rather than actual demonstration of learning, then would there be a mass outcry against our hideous student loan scam paying for it all?<\/p>\n Probably not.<\/p>\n www.professorconfess.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n\u00b7 Chemistry – 2.78 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Math – 2.90 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Economics – 2.95 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Psychology – 2.98 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Biology – 3.02 GPA<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\u00b7 Education – 3.36 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Language – 3.34 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 English – 3.33 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Music – 3.30 GPA<\/em>
\n\u00b7 Religion – 3.22 GPA<\/em><\/p>\n