Grades are just numbers. They do not measure intelligence, in the same way that age doesn 't define maturity. At least once, majority of students in school have experienced getting poor grades. These grades are forcing them to be “smart” and, to such a great extent, they feel stressed and pressured. In fact, grades actually do extra harm to them than good since they have negative effects on students’ mental health. They lack the indication of students’ knowledge as they are only a depiction of their effort. Absences, laziness, and disengagements are just a few of the factors of why grades are a poor representation of students’ intellectual capacity. While others may argue that grades motivate them, it is not genuinely correct since grades encourage …show more content…
(Co) In fact, it is also correct that grades have negative effects on students’ mental condition. Illnesses such as depression, cancer, etc, have a cause on the outcome of students’ grades due to absences. (Horton) If sickness is the cause of low grades, grades are inaccurate to measure their ability to learn. Grades can dramatically drop because 26% of Americans, 14 years old and older, experience mental disabilities such as anxiety and major depression (Ramirez). Shockingly, the main cause of their mental illnesses is because of school, including grades. Students who attend school more often actually get high-average grades, in contrast to the ones who are always absent (Horton). In addition, depression and anxiety heavily affect their performance in school. “Extreme anxiety, severe clinical depression, obsessive compulsive order attention deficit disorder… are illnesses that are related to memory loss are examples of such dysfunctions that may lead to procrastination,” says Brandon Gaille, a psychology researcher. Again, procrastination is one reason why students fail to do work. Grades are said to drive students to push themselves even more, yet it is not entirely true. Some students cheat, causing their grades to fly high, and that doesn’t reflect wit at all. In a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, Donald McCabe (Rutgers University) found that 64 percent of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58 percent for plagiarism, and 95 percent for some other form of cheating. (Facts) This proves that grades are more likely to cause students to cheat than to motivate
Stephanie explains in her research journal the relationship between students GPA and their social deviance. She explains that the higher the GPA, the lower the amount “antisocial behavior, the risk of dropping out, and committing a crime” I support the ideas that Stephanie tries to bring to the table, but I would like to add the idea of depression and disability. Deviance is not only the idea of being a criminal or being antisocial, but also the idea of being someone who struggles with their social life in terms of relationships with peers & instructors and also having to deal with a mental disability. GPA cannot mark someone with a mental or learning disability fairly. People with a learning disorder may have much more to contribute in a
In “How Grading Reform Changed Our School,” author Jeffery Erickson, the assistant principal of Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, discusses why and how he and his colleagues changed the way students received their grades. Erickson’s main argument in his essay is, “What should go into a grade?” His answer to this is that a student’s grade is solely reflected based on what a student knows and his or her ability to perform. Erickson opens up his essay by giving a scenario from a personal experience of when his daughter took swimming lessons. It was a challenge for his daughter to master the class, but in the end she finally passed on the last day.
Grade inflation is a reality throughout the United States. This means that students are being awarded with higher grades than they deserve or worked for. This phenomenon is affecting the quality of education throughout the country. Students insist on getting ‘’their money's worth’’ when it comes to receiving grades. Teachers don’t want to be nagged by students and administration for low grades.
A human's Mental Health is one of the most important things in life. In order to not only be successful but to live a life, one must have good mental health that allows them to be happy and do what pleases them. When children are overwhelmed with school work they tend to become stressed and have bad mental health. This leads to a bad cycle where a student becomes depressed from the extra
Grades are one of the biggest stresses in middle school. With all of the big tests and the fear that if you fail then your whole future is ruined. Also most kids feel that they are always doing something for school, whether it is studying or homework they often feel the urge to cheat on them. Most schools are based on standardized tests and how well you do on them, middle schoolers are very stressed on a regular bases. Grades can cause many different things to happen to students like loads of stress.
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.
In Kurt Wiesenfeld’s article “Making the Grade”, he address the issue that students want a higher grade than they deserve. He goes on to prove this be by giving examples of previous students that he has had and what can happen when students get the grades that they want and not what they deserve. In Wiesenfeld’s article he states that about ten percent of students that take his class do not care about their grades until final grades are over. “You might groan and moan, but you accepted it as the outcome of your efforts or lack thereof,” Wiesenfeld stated.
Standardized Testing While can be beneficial, standardized testing isn't improving American education. Standardized testing evaluates only the individual performance of a student instead of the overall growth of a student over the course of a year. In my opinion, Standardized testing is not enhancing education in America. Not all students who are smart and take in all the information test well. For instance, there are many people who simply do not perform well on tests.
So all in all, in the process of trying to achieve high grades, student neglect relationships, moralities, and happiness. In essence, the notion that high grades lead to a successful life compels students to primarily focus on grades and sacrifice sleep, family, religious beliefs, and other necessities to
Educators do not take into consideration students that suffer from mental illness and
This leads to students experiencing more time with delinquent peers and can lead to the onset of delinquency. This also leads to high drop out rates. When students fall behind in their work they start to see it as unimportant which leads to dropping out of school. When a student drops out the rate of delinquency is ten times higher than a juvenile who is still in school.
Standardized testing has become one of the most popular types of testing in U.S. public schools to date. Students take numerous standardized tests throughout their childhood schooling. (Studies show that a typical student takes an average of 112 mandated standardized tests between Pre-K and 12th grade.) While standardized testing is one of the main procedures that Universities use to judge incoming students, it is not proven to be the most effective way to convey a student’s actual intelligence level. The U.S. should not focus so heavily on standardized testing because it is not a complete accurate measurement of a student’s intelligence.
This can sometimes be blamed on the student and how much they want out of a class but many times this is just way students are taught to learn and how they have always gotten through school. College’s need to take note of this problem and find a way to change it. Today’s education system and colleges are too focused on letter grades and not the betterment of students and expanding their knowledge. Getting good grades is the main focus of today’s student. Because of this, unfortunately, they
First high achieving students grades are what keep them focused and motivated in school. On the other end of the spectrum are students who simply do not have the willpower or drive to earn high marks in school. There are students who focus who too much on grades, and by doing this end up memorizing the material being taught and not absorbing. They are like little robots spouting facts and information, but not being able to truly comprehend its meaning.
“Whether physical or mental, health problems can be so distracting that they make it impossible for students to do their best. If a health problem, either suffered by yourself or a family member, is causing you to fall behind and your grades to suffer, you may need some time off” (Wilson). This quote shows that not taking a break could drop your grades and might even cause you to fail. Therefore, taking a break from school would refresh your brain and allow you to do well in school. Family is the most important thing in life, not seeing family too often might be one of the biggest mistakes and regrets.