The Case Against Grades
Alfie Kohn’s “The Case Against Grades” is a thought-provoking piece that has me reflecting on how I have been impacted by the pressure of grades during my journey through Studentdom – and how I want to deal the issue of letter grades in my potential future classroom. I wholeheartedly agree that “collecting information doesn’t require tests, and sharing that information doesn’t require grades” (8), and I believe that Chapter 9 of our Zwiers textbook has offered some very useful alternatives to testing in the classroom. However, the idea of eliminating grades as a tool for “sharing that information” is a more complex issue.
Kohn’s “big three findings” (9), are compelling evidence in the campaign against grades. In particular, when I examine these findings through the lens of my own learning career at UBC – I can’t help but see some truth in them. I can think of countless examples where the stress of fulfilling assignment requirements for the sake of a grade caused me to have decreased interest in a subject I was previously passionate about (and often created resentment towards said subject), or created an easiest-way-out mentality. The extrinsic motivation of “success matters more than learning” (9) was the driving force behind almost every essay I wrote during my undergrad. I would try to base my writings in knowledge I already had instead of taking the initiative research something new. I’ll even admit that I’ve caught myself using survival tactics to get a “P” on assignments here in the B’Ed. Now I realize that I don’t want my own students to share this experience.
I spoke about this in my blog on Chapter 9 – that I hope to encourage more rigourous student involvement in the process of learning, as opposed to privileging a “successful” final product. In theatre education, there is a great deal of opportunity to spend quality time on building up a repertoire of micro skills that can be applied to performance eventually, but can exist in the form of fun games and activities on their own. When dealing with performance-based assessment projects, (as will sometimes be necessary in drama class), I will have conversations with students about what they think a “higher level of performance” looks like – and design transparent rubrics that reflect the qualities discussed by the students (with some input from me as well). I noticed that Kohn describes the rubric as “a depressingly standardized assessment tool” (11), and I can understand that point of view – but I still think that it could be a useful tool in my classroom. Especially if I give my students a voice in establishing these rubrics.
Concerning the reality of eliminating grades: I don’t think it’s possible in the current Education System. Grades are so deeply entrenched in the pedagogy. Just yesterday – in my Methods Course, my instructor said “You have to be prepared and able to assign a numeric value to the work and progress of your students’ at any given moment.” It’s a depressing thought, but I will strive to also give my students as much qualitative summary of their progress as humanly possible. Drama is such a personal means of expression that I expect it will be sometimes be difficult to assign grades to my students’ work without damaging their sense of self-worth. However, I consider it a very serious responsibility to protect my students, and validate their work – even while assigning them grades.