I have recently read an article stating that grades make students only focus on homework and cramming before tests and they don't really absorb the material. to be honest i can agree, as a student i feel that i forget all my information of the years because i only focused on cramming for the test. Do you think that this is true? and what would be a new system to test the intelligence of the modern day student?
I mean, you are kind of right with me. The only reasons I pay attention in class are: 1. If I find it interesting 2. If it is for a really big important test
and it basically made states go on a "Race to the Middle" instead of giving the gifted kids the higher education they needed
Remember when schools wanted to make everyone winners and give everyone equal trophies? It reminded me of a short story (I think it was by Ray Bradbury, but I'm not sure) about a future dystopian society where everyone is forced to be as equally hindered as everyone else. If there wasn't supposed to be competition in life then why do the weakest antelopes get killed by the lions?
Remember when schools wanted to make everyone winners and give everyone equal trophies?
It is ridiculous how overprotective we have become of children these days. I swear, if you say one thing negative, psychologists start reprimanding you about how "it's detrimental to the child's mental wellbeing." NEWSFLASH! Just because you are not the best doesn't mean that you suck!
NEWSFLASH! Just because you are not the best doesn't mean that you suck!
"It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins a chant, 'We're number one! We're number one!' Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of 'We're number one!', he rises and yells, 'What's wrong with being number two?' The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sits down, smiling and triumphant." (Tuesdays with Morrie)
Which is a another problem. If your grade is relying on tests mainly, which most classes do, then it doesn't give any motivation to learn any other material than what the tests cover. Get that done and your golden.
"It is 1979, a basketball game in the Brandeis gym. The team is doing well, and the student section begins a chant, 'We're number one! We're number one!' Morrie is sitting nearby. He is puzzled by the cheer. At one point, in the midst of 'We're number one!', he rises and yells, 'What's wrong with being number two?' The students look at him. They stop chanting. He sits down, smiling and triumphant." (Tuesdays with Morrie)
huh? Could you please explain for me, this is one of my blanking moments....
Playing only to win and crush the other guys isn't important. Always being the best shouldn't matter. It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.
The problem is that nobody wants to learn for the sake of learning anymore. So few people will go home and learn anything on their own time. They are being told what they must learn in school and that is all they ever learn. People cram for a test and a couple months, weeks, or days later, can barely remember anything that was on the test. The education system does not focus on learning things in the long run. School should be about learning the basics everybody needs and after that point people should be allowed to choose what they want to learn. School should be so people find out what they are interested in, not forcing them to memorize facts and formulas they will never use again in the rest of their lives.
Grades don't reflect how intelligent somebody is. Some people may have trouble in one subject or another, or they just simply don't care. And being lazy may not have anything to do with it. Students planning to apply for colleges don't consider the importance of their grades until its getting close to the point where they apply for colleges. If they don't enjoy a subject, math for instance, they may not see the point in pushing themselves to learn the material because they have no motivation to do so. All they know is they have to pass to not take the course again and some people will do the bare minimum it takes to pass. Not because they're lazy, but because they don't care what there grade is one way or another. An intelligent person having poor grades does not prove they will be lazy in their job when they grow up. A job will always give motivation, and that motivation is money. People need money to put a rood over their heads, gas in their car, and food in their stomach. However, the importance of foreshadowing in a book they read during their sophomore year in high school, does not help them at all, unless they plan on becoming an english major.
In my opinion, grades do prohibit real learning. Grades take away the value of knowledge and replace is with an arbitrary number that doesn't really show what you do or do not know on a subject.
In my opinion, grades do prohibit real learning. Grades take away the value of knowledge and replace is with an arbitrary number that doesn't really show what you do or do not know on a subject.
I know I only put down that last bit, but that entire post put me in awe. I truly couldn't have said it better myself. that is exactly how I saw it.
but now this question must be asked: if we can't change the system, how can we motivate the kids to learn without undermining the education itself?
personally, I say that we need to return back to the times when parents put the word of the teacher above the student. where the parents won't throw a lawsuit when their kid is expelled and he says, "those teachers are out to get me, I swear!" back when teachers were more focused on helping the student succeed, and not focused on keeping his job by passing those who did below the bare minimum.
the current grading system was built for that time, and the only way it won't prohibit learning is if we revert back to those times.
how can we motivate the kids to learn without undermining the education itself?
It seems you believe that any kid can be motivated to do something he doesn't want to do. I know other kids who just don't care anymore. Some people are like that. You really can't make motivate everyone, sometimes they just don't want to.
I say that we need to return back to the times when parents put the word of the teacher above the student
Assuming that the parent is actually involved in the students learning. Again, I know kids whose parents don't care what they do. In order for your system to work, parents will have to get more active in their child's education, without making their kid feel smothered. It can't be the two extremes, it must be right in the middle.
Funny, i'm the exact opposite. If I get a really bad grade in any class, besides history which is my best subject and I have never gotten less than an A, I begin to self-destruct and lose all interst to recover. A perfect example of this is my math class. Grades put a lot of pressure and stress on some students that don't need it.
I have that same thing happen to me where once I start to do bad I just think "oh **** it" and just stop trying anymore.
hate grades, all that happens is i get screamed at and told that i will work at mcdonalds by my parents
Haha I thought only I got the MCDonalds threat, I guess it's a common thing to threaten a child with after beating a child was deemed illegal.
Haha I thought only I got the MCDonalds threat, I guess it's a common thing to threaten a child with after beating a child was deemed illegal.
You should tell my mom about that. I dont think she got the memo. We should all get stars or something non threatening. Grades are really stressful sometimess.
Yeah, McDonalds all around is a bad bad place. I never got the McDonalds threat, but my mom told me I would end up a hobo if I kept talking back or something.
