Currently I am involved in an experiment, or more of a challenge one might say, proposed by one of my professors. The overall grade in his class is made up of papers and class participation. But I have signed up to not know any of my grades on the assignments I turn in. I will not know what my actual grade is until they come out after the semester is over and done with.
Is a little red flag going up? When I fist heard this idea I thought it was nonsense. Don’t all school success programs tell you to keep track of what your grade in the class is so you can gauge how well you are doing? You can kick up the studying if you need to or if you are happy with your grade, you can keep the same routine going. And if you are doing way better than you thought you could, then you can slack off a bit and still pass the class.
It was my professor’s idea that grades set limitations for people. Here is the basic concept: every time a student enters a class, they have an idea of what grade they want to get, right? And then they figure out the least possible amount of effort they need to put into the class in order the get the desired grade. This is cheating them out of so much because it is putting limits on what they choose to explore and get out of the class. Therefore, these grades limit the potential for the student’s education.
Think about this: what if you didn’t get a grade back on one of your papers? Would you still know how well you did? You are the one that researched the topic and had late nights with that paper. And if that paper were filled with comments and questions for you from your professor, you would have a better understanding of what areas you need to improve on. So what do you need the grade for?
Since I signed up for this “challenge,” I have been putting a lot of extra time into this class. And it has become very interesting and I actually want to get out of bed at 7 am in order to attend the class. But I think I am doing it out of fear because I don’t know my grade and the side effect is more education. So I don’t really know if that is what he wanted or not.
Oddly enough, no. My feelings about a paper very rarely line up with the professors'. If I think I did a great job on the paper, they'll say I did a mediocre job. If I think the paper was horrible, they'll say it was excellent.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Want the highest rated list to change? RATE those blogs, then!
I had the same experience in my AP English class last year. Every time I thought I had done exceptionally well on a paper, it came back with a low grade, and whenever I just didn't try and wrote it out last minute with hardly any thought, I'd get higher grades. All it succeeded in doing was make me stop trying to do well in school. It was awful, and now that I'm in college, I'm having difficulty with the fact that I actually have to put some effort in to schoolwork.
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!!!