The Paradoxes Within Current Grading Practices
- Grading in academia does not motivate students to learn and harms mental health.
- The establishment of grades diminished the intrinsic motivation of wanting to learn for the wealth of knowledge and created extrinsic motivation, diverting all energy and efforts to avoiding bad grades (Schinske & Tanner, 2014; McNutt, 2022).
- Impact on high-achieving students: Grades are motivating for high-achieving students, but for all of the wrong reasons (McNutt, 2022). These students are highly motivated to maintain high grades, regardless of whether that includes learning or not. Grades take quite a toll on the mental health of high achieving students because the motivation to maintain high grades stems from the fear of failure and increased anxiety, which then reduces their interest in learning and decreases enjoyment in the classroom (Schinske & Tanner, 2014).
- Impact of poor grades: Regularly receiving poor grades leads to a student dismissing school as useless and generally withdrawing from class work (Schinske & Tanner, 2014). Additionally, when a student puts forth a lot of effort and receives a poor grade, they are likely to give up. Overall, poor grades are demotivating to students because they aren’t receiving the positive external reward associated with extrinsic motivation.
- Within the academic setting, student distress can come from many causes. Some of the more prominent causes are test anxiety, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, stereotype threat, and generalized anxiety (Harbin, 2015). Generalized anxiety is the only cause in this list that does not stem from grades. Test anxiety and perfectionism stem the fear of failure in terms of grades in academia. Imposter syndrome suggests a lack of correlation between high grades and learning, for the feeling of inadequacy remains in the face of success. Finally, a stereotype threat is developed due to subjectivity within grading that would allow for biases to be applied during evaluation.
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Grading does not accurately measure or quantify learning due to the lack of equity.
- Consistency in grading is difficult to accomplish between different teachers, and there are still inconsistencies with the grading of a single teacher due to subjectivity (Schinske & Tanner, 2014). The degree of subjectivity differs with the type of assignment being graded, with participation and written work being the most subjectively graded (Feldman, 2019). Using a multiple choice format removes subjectivity because there is one correct answer, however, this format can still potentially provide misleading information about a student’s knowledge because they could select the write answer on a whim (Schinske & Tanner, 2014). With this, the grade of a student depends to a considerable extent upon the subjective review by their teacher rather than the actual work the student produced.
- Economic disparities are often displayed in grade because the differences in time and resources are not acknowledged. For example, the completion of homework that was assigned last minute is a lot more feasible for a student whose bills are paid for by someone else, in comparison to a student who has to hold a job and work frequently to afford their education and the necessities that go along with it. Beyond the difference in time allowance, a student of higher economic status may also have access to more resources, such as a tutor or even buying the answers online.
- The rearrangement of grades to fit a bell curve also distribution, or using a curve, dissociates the learning and knowledge meaning of grades (Schinske & Tanner, 2014). A measurement of learning or growth differs from a measurement of aptitude, and a normal distribution should not be assumed. Additionally, grading on a curve is a form of norm referenced grading, and thus puts students in competition with one another instead of being able to work together to help each other learn.
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Grading negatively alters the role of professors and how they are viewed.
- The Instructor’s first job is to teach and foster student learning, yet a lot of their time and energy is devoted to grading and providing feedback. The time required to grade each student’s work adds up quickly, especially with the larger class sizes at universities. Sadly, the detailed feedback provided is often not read if it is accompanied by a grade due to the extrinsic motivation of grading (Schinske & Tanner, 2014).With only so many hours in the day, some instructors are hesitant to assign more activities or homework that would help learning because they do not have the time, energy, or motivation to grade them. The requirement of grading distracts many instructors from more meaningful aspects of teaching and learning.
- In addition to taking time away from teaching, traditional grading can also promote unhealthy student-professor relationships (Clark & Talbert, 2023). After grading assignments or exams, there are often students who disagree about their grade and will address this with their professor. This has become so common that many of the professors I have had during my time here at the University of Iowa have provided a deadline to ask for regrades. The discussions, and sometimes arguments, that take place between professors and students about grades often cause a divide. Many students view professors as the adversary, instead of someone who is on the same team and is there to help them learn (Khan, 2012, p. 200). Unfortunately, I would be lying if I said I have never felt this way about a professor; it is actually the main reason I was so eager to examine this issue.