The next aspect of the grading debate that is important to discuss is what exactly the purposes of grading are. One of the purposes is that it allows teachers to provide feedback that may be useful to their students. There are two types of feedback when it comes to grading: the first is known as evaluative feedback, which is in the form of a letter grade that critiques the work of the student; the second type of feedback is called descriptive, which offers information about the way in which a student can become more knowledgeable. In their article, Schinske and Tanner reference a study that compared the effects of evaluative feedback, descriptive feedback, and no feedback in regard to how students performed on problem-solving tasks. The study …show more content…
Cheating is unethical in and of itself, so a system that promotes this practice must be unethical as well. Yet another unethical aspect of grading is the emphasis on grade point average to gain acceptance into colleges. If grading was eliminated altogether, it would not only force schools to come up with other alternatives, but it would also force colleges to change their admittance methods and potentially reduce the dropout rate (Barnes). Ultimately, the judgment method of our grading system proves to be ineffective and …show more content…
A significant nation to consider is Finland, which has long been among the top five on the list of best educational systems. Why is this so? One explanation is that, unlike in the United States, children do not begin attending school until the age of seven. Finland’s education system believes that allowing their children to “be children” by playing and exploring is a very important aspect in learning and developing properly. On the contrary, many Americans feel that our educational system forces maturity on children
This just simply amazed the author. They are giving the children more free time which in the long run will help them learn a lot better and help them adapt social skills that are needed when they grow older. Schools in the United States do not even almost compare to schools that are in Finland. Partanen seems to be always referring back to Pasi Sahlberg. He is the director of the Finnish Ministry of education’s Center for international mobility and author of the new book Finnish lessons: What Can The World Learn from Educational Change in Finland.
This is done now through the process of having a two assessment category- formative and summative. Both of these categories are used to determine the student’s quarter and semester grade. The summative category would be based on four common assessments, and one of these must be a performance task. As for formative assessments, this would show students the progress that they have made in mastering the material that would appear during the summative exam. He continues by saying that the school has realized that they can no longer control student’s grades based on behavioral infractions.
The Failure of Grading in Public High Schools Most people in life that go on to be publicly known or have a successful business after escaping the jail that is high school, are actually the students that didn’t make such good grades. The school grading system trains you students to reach for an unattainable goal, has untruthful promises, has many flaws, causes mental issues in students, leads to cheating, and makes students not even comprehend what they are learning. The grades we get are supposedly the only thing that tracks how a student is doing in school. With that, a student has the mind set that if they do, everything right and good like they’re supposed to they’ll get rewarded with an A grade. Sadly however, the real world hits hard
The nature of cheating originates from the common misconception of helping others and a student’s lack of self-confidence. Plagiarism, not so different from cheating, disperses from the broad range of information on today’s technology. Through an authentic study, it has been revealed that teachers have established many students who have cheated their way through complexed assignments. Even misleading students who have kept a high grade point average has been found as participants of academic dishonesty. Today, professors seek to find different measures that should be taken to decrease cheating and plagiarism.
An honor code can be so effective that “many schools with academic honor codes allow students to take their exams without proctors present, relying on peer monitoring to control cheating” (Source F). Despite this system, there is research that “indicates that the significantly lower levels cheating” (Source F) at schools with honor codes. This is possible because there is a peer culture that denounces cheating, making kids embarrassed to commit academic dishonesty. Such a peer culture was formed by educating the students about the value of academic dishonesty.
Classroom assessment and grading practices have the potential not only to measure and report learning but also to promote it. Indeed, recent research has documented the benefits of regular use of diagnostic and formative assessments as feedback for learning (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam,
Throughout my high school education, I have found myself being unable to trust my peers as I have been told to cover my answer sheets during tests, or have seen other students on their phones during quizzes that I had studied hours for the night before. In my school, cheating runs rampant as many students feel that there is no consequence as it has been deemed socially acceptable, many teachers don’t discuss repercussions for cheating at the beginning of the year, and it is not very difficult to difficult to cheat. In fact, as outlined in Source F, two thirds of students surveyed at the collegiate level admit to acts of academic dishonesty. The same source found that “the highest levels of cheating are usually found at colleges that have not engaged their students in active dialogue on the issue of academic dishonesty,” (Source F). Although many would believe that implementing an honor code would stir further distrust among students as they are told to suspect and report each other, I believe that an honor code in my school would set an important precedent for academic honesty, as there is currently little to no social pressures around cheating.
The Grading System: Completely Necessary Grades are an important part of the school system. Grades set the extraordinary students apart from the ordinary ones. In Jerry Farber’s essay, “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” he argues that grades are the only motivation students have in school. Farber even calls it “phony motivation.” He argues that students do not actually learn anything.
Should the grading system be changed? Are grading students on tests, homework, quizzes, etc. actually beneficial to students? Do receiving grades truly help students to understand the material that is being taught? What it comes down to is the question of how effective is the grading system and should it be challenged? Many people believe that grades are necessary as well as beneficial to students’ education rather than a burden to it.
In “From Degrading to De-Grading,” Alfie Kohn criticizes current grading systems and their alleged harm to students. Kohn first lists three main problems with grading and then adds seven more. In summary, grading results in students showing little interest in learning, students choosing easier assignments, and less creative students (p. 254-255). The next seven points expose grading as unreliable, distracting, and tedious. Grading also incites cheating and ruins relationships between students and teachers (p. 255-257).
“Since “everyone else” is cheating, they have no choice but to do the same to remain competitive. And there is growing evidence many students take these habits with them to college.” (McCabe, Donald and Pavela). More and more colleges are using the honor codes. The honor code has helped to prevent cheating.
Utilitarianism Justification of Exam Cheating Utilitarianism is one of the best ethical approaches that can be used to justifying a right action from a wrong action by focusing on the outcome of the path taken. The most important thing is that the action taken to achieve a certain outcome has to be of the greater benefit of the society at large. Whether the outcome is bad, it can be used to morally justify some deeds regardless of how inhumane they can be. On the other side, utilitarianism also does not justify everything because it is difficult at time to predict whether the actions taken will be good or bad at the end. Additionally, values cannot be accounted for.
Most obviously, cheating is unfair to honest students. A cheater receives through deception what honest students work hard for; and in classes graded on a curve, he lowers their grades to boot. Cheating also cheapens the diploma. How valuable can a sheepskin be if so many people receive it under false pretenses?
Now, in college, cheating will place an academic warning on your official transcript, making it visible to other institutions. I am going to come clean, about cheating in the far past. I am taking, full responsibility that cheat is a unethical habit. Most students decide to cheat, because they want high grades, without much effort. I can’t remember the exact incident, that occured cheating, although I have.
Feedback is a significant element in determination of education quality as well as in effective learning where it portrays the learning outcomes for students and the successes for the tutors. There are many aspects that concern educationists with regards to feedback but the relationship between perspectives of learning as well as teaching and feedback stands as the most important among them. Feedback should be conveyed in different modes in a learning environment but whatever mode chosen creates room for dialogue between the tutor and students. Therefore, it is only through feedback that the student engagement relationship with the feedback as well as the tutors’ perceptions of learning, teaching and assessment that such successes can be established.