"G.R.A.D.E.S. " by Zech A

     I want to spark a conversation about something that it seems few people question: the traditional school grading system. We have been receiving G.R.A.D.E.S. in school ever since kindergarten. Every assignment we have received in school since then has been assessed by a grading system, even this (unconventional) essay that I am writing right now will be graded. It will help determine my grade in AP Literature, which will help determine my grade point average, which is a compilation of all of my high school G.R.A.D.E.S. averaged out. The G.R.A.D.E.S. we receive in school aren’t even the only G.R.A.D.E.S. we receive throughout our lives. People are virtually graded by their looks whenever they post a picture on social media, even by themselves much of the time. My generation specifically is filled with people who obsess over how many likes their pictures get or having more followers than everybody else on Instagram or Twitter. The entirety of Earth’s population has grown up in a world where the dominant culture tells them that receiving a “good grade” is essentially equal to happiness and satisfaction. “Good G.R.A.D.E.S.” are a reflection of your success, whereas “bad G.R.A.D.E.S. are a reflection of failure, shame, and misery. 

     It is a widely accepted notion that receiving the “good grade” inspires all people, but especially children to learn, work hard, and become better individuals as a whole. But is this actually true? Do G.R.A.D.E.S. actually help people obtain these honorable traits, or are they actually ineffective, or even counterproductive? Do “good G.R.A.D.E.S.” really bring people a happier life, or do they merely bring temporary satisfaction that causes long term stress? Let’s take a deeper look into what G.R.A.D.E.S. are and how they’re truly affecting our mental state, and ultimately our lives:

G- Gifted students overlooked.  When examining a student’s grade point average or grade in a specific class, many of us believe that we can gather valuable information with this, including but not limited to who is more intelligent or who works harder. However, this attitude that we as a society hold when it comes to G.RA.D.E.S. is completely false; and frankly, it’s prejudiced. When teachers and professors judge students based on their grades rather than their talent and knowledge of the subject they are teaching, they rob the student of opportunities they otherwise could have earned with their pure knowledge and acquired skills.

R- Ruining potential interests.  When educators offer children positive rewards for performing a task, children will begin to enjoy the given task less. Here is an analogy that author Alfie Kohn used to describe this during his appearance on the podcast The Happiness Lab: “If you want to destroy a child’s interest in reading, you should give the kid a prize for reading a book.” Kohn elaborated on this
by explaining that not only is this manipulative, but also programs the child into thinking: “Reading must suck if my teacher has to give me a reward in order to do it.”

A- Avoiding challenges.  When grades are the measure of success, children will often avoid challenges due to the fear of getting a lower grade in the more challenging task or course. This is simply common sense. If the objective of school is to achieve the highest possible GPA, why would a student pick harder subjects to learn or harder tasks to complete? I can speak about this tragic flaw within the education system from personal experience. I can give several examples of myself choosing college prep courses over AP or Honors courses throughout high school because I worried that my grades would suffer from the additional homework and additional challenge, even if the subject was something I genuinely find interesting such as politics or chemistry. But you don't have to take my word for it. A study by child psychologist Susan Harter has confirmed that kids tend to avoid challenges when being graded. Harter gave 6th graders words that were scrambled and asked them to unscramble them. The children were given simple 3 letter words and more difficult 6 letter words. The first group of children would be given these puzzles without any mention of a grade. This group would usually do the more challenging puzzles and appeared to be happy while doing them. Harter then provided the same puzzles to a second group of 6th graders who were told that they would be graded. The second group of children hardly smiled, tended to do only the easier puzzles, and were much more anxious. Unfortunately, the second group of 6th graders reflects the way the system is now, which stunts the growth of children and does not maximize their potential.

D- Destroying learning and independent thinking.  Here is another example that Alfie Kohn used in his appearance on The Happiness Lab: Students are much less likely to ask questions that allow them to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter they are learning about such as “Why is this true?” or “Doesn’t this contradict what I learned before?” But they are much more likely to ask “Is this going to be on the test?” I think nearly all of you including myself have either witnessed this in real life or have done this yourself or both. This is not an indictment on you or anyone else. It is a perfectly rational reaction to an irrational system that diverts the attention away from the subject of the work to the grading system.

E- External Reward.  G.R.A.D.E.S. are simply an external reward, which is the type of reward that severely punishes all of us in the long run. I want you to think about school pre-pandemic and think about all of the homework you have completed throughout high school. Were you focused on going above and beyond on your homework to maximize your learning on the subject of the homework? Or, did you have the mindset of completing it with the minimal effort needed to get
credit, like I have? Chances are, your mindset was the latter the vast majority of the time. This is what Chana Stein, Arie Kruglanski, and Aviah Riter call “the minimax strategy.” When the sole focus of completing a task is on the external reward, it makes perfect sense to put in the minimal effort or even resort to cheating in order to obtain the only apparent benefit of completing the task.

S-Stupid. The current grading system that is used in nearly every school in the world is stupid. I am calling for a radical change in the way that people are taught in school. Get rid of the traditional grading system. There needs to be an emphasis on learning rather than completion of tasks. Each student needs to take classes that suit their individual passions and how they plan to contribute to society.  The role of teachers needs to be to work with students to help them learn as much as the student can about the subject. They will also help guide each student on what they will need to know and be able to do in order to achieve their career and/or life goals. Ultimately, motivation can only come from within, not from a stupid system of false motivation and manipulation.

Credit to:  -The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos -Alfie Kohn -“Ungrading” by Susan D. Blum on Inside Higher Ed