WE write:
(caps are added for emphasis)
"Now if a grade is an indicator, a place to begin to understand a student, a
place to begin to understand the extent of and nature of learning, a place
to begin to understand the quality of teaching, one of many indicators,
that's fine. But, too often, most often, like the wine ratings, it is the
place where most begin and where most end. It has become the absolute
dictator. It has become the whole story. WE are enthralled with a
simpleton's version of education. And, WE have become simplistic bean
counters. WE believe the grade is the window into the student's
intelligence and ability and potential. WE believe that the grade doth make
the person. WE don't have to get to know the student because the grade says
it all. WE believe that all WE have to do is open our roll/grade book and
WE have a complete biography of the student.
Consequently, all WE ask is "how is that graded" ("assessed" in
modern jargon) or "how will this affect my grade" or "how much does this
count towards the grade" or "what is this or that worth" or "what grade did
you get" or "what is your GPA." WE allow the grade to so influence our
assumptions and presumptions and preconceptions about a particular student
that WE don't feel it necessary to get to get to know the student for the
person he or she is. Acceptance, honors, probation, awards, suspension,
class ranking are almost always a quick and easy numbers game. And, it will
remain so as long as the producers and retailers and buyers of an education
want a quick and easy buy and sell, as long as THEY want to drink rather
than savor an education, as long as THEY are unsure about the purpose of an
education, as long as THEY are insecure about the mysterious nexi of nuances
called the individual person, and as long as THEY don't quite have a handle
on the complex and complicated--and often mysterious--processes of
meaningful teaching and learning."
For a professional writer, Louis seems curiously unaware of the fact that
the pronoun "we" is intended to express inclusion of the writer. It is
almost as if it is being used to insincerely express a "we are all in this
together" mentality to make his latest jeremiad go down easier. I think it
is interesting that he eventually changes from "we" to "they" at the very
end when I guess even he can no longer stand the artifice. I thought at
first that maybe THEY were those who use grades outside of education as
opposed to the WE who produce the grades but he clearly lists the THEY as
the producers of grades (teachers) along with the retailers (admissions and
administrators?) and buyers (students and families?) of education.
As to Louis' point, I doubt there is any group more aware of the limitations
of grades than WE producers of the grades themselves. WE psychology
professors, with our grounding in statistics and measurement theory, are
probably as informed, as a group, about the limitations of grades, as any
other. However, my impression, from leading a session of a summer pedagogy
workshop on this topic, is that WE faculty from all disciplines are quite
aware of the inadequacies of grading.
Rick
Dr. Rick Froman
Associate Professor of Psychology
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
(479) 524-7295
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: http://www.jbu.edu/academics/sbs/rfroman.asp
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