Tuesday, December 28, 2004
GRADE TIRADE
My lowest Grad School grade (so far) is in Ethics.
(Does that mean I'm not ethical, or does it prove that grades are dumb?)
There has been a grade tirade bubbling up in my brain for quite some time. I mentioned it to tk a while back, but it's been on my mind for years. It’s no secret that I have a serious problem with grades. As a teacher I gave them begrudgingly (and, on more than one occasion, just had my students fill in their own report cards) .
As a student, I don't discuss grades. It's been my policy ever since 3rd grade (when ugly peer pressure / grade competition started to rear its disgusting head). I was in a class with Heather and Kristin (grade queens extraordinaire). They were smart and had the grades to prove it. I was struggling with a slew of C’s and D’s, and thought by keeping all my grades a secret they’d be clueless as to my stupidity. (Alas, in 6th grade the local paper began publishing an “A Honor Roll” and a “B Honor Roll” - so not only did Heather and Kristin know, but the whole wide world knew exactly where I fell (or didn’t fall) in terms of academia. Not to mention the silly in-class grading (“Trade papers with your neighbor.”) Ugh.
Enough has been written about the uselessness/evil-ness of grades (Alfie Kohn, Grace Lewin, Dan Lilenthal, William Ayers) and I’m not going to re-list their arguments or pretend that I have anything new to say. (Yes, this is a passion-less tirade). Except - the most interesting people in my life, are the ones that got less than stellar grades (Diane, Don, and Jon to name just a few).
My lowest Grad School grade (so far) is in Ethics.
(Does that mean I'm not ethical, or does it prove that grades are dumb?)
There has been a grade tirade bubbling up in my brain for quite some time. I mentioned it to tk a while back, but it's been on my mind for years. It’s no secret that I have a serious problem with grades. As a teacher I gave them begrudgingly (and, on more than one occasion, just had my students fill in their own report cards) .
As a student, I don't discuss grades. It's been my policy ever since 3rd grade (when ugly peer pressure / grade competition started to rear its disgusting head). I was in a class with Heather and Kristin (grade queens extraordinaire). They were smart and had the grades to prove it. I was struggling with a slew of C’s and D’s, and thought by keeping all my grades a secret they’d be clueless as to my stupidity. (Alas, in 6th grade the local paper began publishing an “A Honor Roll” and a “B Honor Roll” - so not only did Heather and Kristin know, but the whole wide world knew exactly where I fell (or didn’t fall) in terms of academia. Not to mention the silly in-class grading (“Trade papers with your neighbor.”) Ugh.
Enough has been written about the uselessness/evil-ness of grades (Alfie Kohn, Grace Lewin, Dan Lilenthal, William Ayers) and I’m not going to re-list their arguments or pretend that I have anything new to say. (Yes, this is a passion-less tirade). Except - the most interesting people in my life, are the ones that got less than stellar grades (Diane, Don, and Jon to name just a few).