Not a holistic assessment: Grading system

A grading system based on points and points alone doesn’t offer space for any independent thought or intellectual speculation. Noam Chomsky’s recent statement, “the assessment itself is completely artificial”, very well sums up the dangers of the grading system widely prevalent in our society today.

The main problem with grading system is that it creates a belief among people to consider someone’s talent based upon their grades. I don’t agree with this theory that one’s view towards other’s ability should depend on their grades. If my score in a subject isn’t good, it doesn’t mean I can’t do that subject at all. There are a lot of factors that influence grades, not merely our ability to understand the subject.

So basically grades inaccurately describe a person’s ability. Often it’s not the ability to learn that’s under fire, but the ability to copy and paste. A number of people can remember things like dates, names and places but that’s not learning, its remembering.

Grades exist in this world because there is no other way for a teacher or anybody to differentiate their student or other people’s ability from one another. Let’s say if you are a manager in a company and are responsible for employee recruitment, would you be able to meet each and every candidate and then talk to each of them, see what they can do, dig into their personality one by one and then decide whether he/she should be accepted for the job in your company? Of course not. There must be a generalization of everyone’s ability so that you can quickly decide whether someone is fit to do something or not. This generalization is the ‘grades’.

So basically grades inaccurately describe a person’s ability. Often it’s not the ability to learn that’s under fire, but the ability to copy and paste. A number of people can remember things like dates, names and places but that’s not learning, its remembering. Using the knowledge you’re given to solve a problem presented to you is what we should actually be grading, memory doesn’t always get you out of a jam in real life.

Certain disadvantages of grading system are that students at the lower academic end of the spectrum would not have equal opportunities to take more engaging academic programs. It is limited to a specific area of study and assumes that everyone learns and communicates what they have learned in the same manner. It also doesn’t take into account the students who skip the assignments that are supposed to teach them the material because they already know it and then ace the tests. Plus the biased opinions may mess up the results.

Learning is a complex process. And the involvement of individuals with their own set of personal baggages makes it even more tricky. Each student processes and utilizes the given information in his/her own way. So, in my opinion the process of using a standardized test for everyone and then grading students based on that doesn’t show the real knowledge gained. It’s gravely affecting the problem solving skills of the individuals. It’s important that we bring a change in the evaluation system before it’s too late.