Candidly Canada: Grading systems arbitrary, outdated
One wouldn’t think being in Canada is much different than the States. While studying at Bishop’s University, I expected similar class formats and assignments like my past three semesters in South Dakota.
Luckily, I’m very familiar with writing papers and a typical lecture format. However, the only grades on most of my syllabi are a single term paper, a midterm and a final – three grades determining my performance for an entire semester.
With so few assignments weighing upon passing each course, the minimal workload leads to questions of the value of grades themselves. How important is a college GPA? Should students care more or less about the letters on their transcripts?
Students should do their best in their work, but colleges should emphasize the value of learning over traditional grading standards.
Grades are very arbitrary measurements of success. Over time, public universities have seen a grade inflation, giving higher grades for work that would’ve received lower grades in the past. This makes it difficult to identify the best students because more people are given the highest possible grade.
In fact, according to a recent study by the Teachers College Record, 43 percent of letter grades given are A’s. Less work and effort is now worthy of higher grades, demonstrating how slippery the grading slope can be.
When colleges portray a GPA as a crucial measurement of success, students become stressed and deprioritize their mental health and moral values.
Stanford News reported that cheating is closely linked to the social pressure put on students to prize high grades over education and other values, including creativity and their personal well-being.
Education has become a competition fueled by stress and anxiety derived from a short-sighted fascination with graded achievement.
If the primary grading system higher education uses is so subjective, many people may question the value of even paying the hefty costs of tuition. College itself isn’t mandatory. People choose to invest their time and money toward a degree, but TIME Magazine says thatthat 65 percent of college alumni agreed their educations were worth the cost.
The campus environment exposes students to new ideas and people that can help them expand their resumes, such as different activities, job fairs and studying abroad.
Choosing to attend college isn’t the problem here: the problem comes from placing higher importance on a flimsy means of judgment over hard work and learning.
Jeanetta Jones Miller’s research discusses standard-based grading with a student-centered approach. This concept concentrates on students’ learning over individual assignments, giving students the freedom to make learning an experience that’s individualized
to them.
Students’ concerns should be less focused on their grades, and should look ahead to the future. According to USA Today, employers more often look at students’ job experience over their transcripts.
Networking is also very important. Ultimately, employers want to see students who are involved on campus and in their community and have an internship or two under their belts.
Students are defined by so much more than a letter or number. The plethora of factors that may determine one’s success in the job market far exceeds a digit on a transcript.
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Learning to adapt to limited assignments has been a challenge, but this difference between Canada and USD, along with a different grading scale altogether, suggests a new way of judging academic performance.
All higher education must reemphasize the power of knowledge and the relationships made with peers and faculty that truly support students’ goals and encourage values that transcend the classroom.
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