For decades, schools have evaluated students’ work using an A-F grading scale. However, this method of measuring a student’s capability causes students to focus on their grades, rather than comprehending the material. This obsession with grades leads to an underdeveloped understanding of the concepts they learn in school.
Rather than focusing on the grades students receive, schools should find other ways to measure their students’ abilities to ensure they truly understand the concepts presented to them, rather than simply doing what gets them the highest grade.
Teachers could grade largely based on participation, encouraging students to be more engaged with the material. Teachers could also provide more descriptive feedback to students rather than assigning them a grade and nothing more.
A widespread problem found in students’ schoolwork is academic dishonesty. Although school districts impose regulations to combat this issue, many students still find a way to cheat regardless, whether it be asking others for test answers or using AI to complete assignments. However, the problem is not the students, but how they are taught to believe they must achieve good grades, leading them to rely on prohibited methods of completing assignments.
Our current system’s fixation on grades creates an environment in which students fear the possibility of failure rather than focusing on the possibility of learning, according to the article “Why Focusing on Grades Is a Barrier to Learning” by Gerald Knesek, EdD, senior lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint.
Something that may contribute to this fear of failure is how students are often assigned grades without educators providing much valuable or constructive feedback to them. Instead students are given a grade with it being up to them to ask for further clarification on why they received the grade they did.
Some parents are also pressuring their children to achieve better grades, which leads to students having increased stress levels. A 2021 study by the National Center for Health Statistics found that 93% of parents thought their children always or usually had the social and emotional support they needed. In contrast, only 59% of teens felt the same. This shows that some parents may need to take a step back and reevaluate their effect on their child’s mental health.
Grades don’t just affect students in school, but also outside of it. Many students base their self-worth on how academically competitive they are. One bad grade may ruin someone’s entire day, as they are led by the school system into believing they are worth less than they are.
School districts do not have to get rid of their grading system in order to prioritize learning. However, when you emphasize grades as schools do now, students focus on their emotions and self-worth, leading to worse academic performance.
