Grading System Fail

The first sign that something was amiss in Saskatoon high schools was the news that Nutana Collegiate would stop giving failing grades.  Yesterday I read that schools across the city, in both the public and separate districts, are going one step further.  They want to stop giving grades altogether.

I’m almost speechless.  Almost.  I just do not understand this movement at all.  Grades tell how much a student knows when compared to an objective standard.  Why is that bad?  So what if students don’t like getting low marks.  They’re not supposed to like it.  They’re supposed to want to improve their marks.  If you have a 65%, you know exactly how far you are from a 70%.  If you’re “starting to meet objectives,” you have absolutely no idea how far you are from meeting the objectives.  Bad grades can be motivating.  Ask Tammy Robert.  Good marks can be motivating and competition is a good thing.

Do you know who likes the idea of no grades?  Students getting bad grades. And students with no plans to attend college who don’t need to fill out application forms documenting their success in high school.  And teachers who don’t have to be the big meanie and flunk someone.

One teacher in the StarPhoenix article negotiates grades with her students!  Aagh.  The scourge of college professors everywhere … grade negotation.  She negotiates based upon previously set goals.  Hah.  So, if you set low goals and meet them, do you get a higher grade than someone who set high goals and failed to meet them?  That’s stupid.  (She still has to give grades because the province requires them.  For now.)

I have another cynical suspicion.  It’s easier to inflate marks if there isn’t a paper trail of low scores on exams.

Will high school just become pass/fail?  Will we just have minimum standards and no striving to be more?