Monday, September 24, 2012

De-emphasizing Grades

Via NPR, here's an interesting interview with a former President of Reed College, Colin Diver.

Diver discusses his efforts to de-emphasize grades and promote the goal of learning for its own sake (there's a radical notion!) Teachers were required to give extensive feedback that did not include grades. The school as an institution withdrew from the college ranking system, so as to prevent the grading game on the larger scale.

Two-thirds of the students at Reed didn't know their GPA.

I think one of the worst aspects of education today is the universal grade-grubbing and credentialism. It's almost impossible for a kid to develop a sincere interest in learning in this toxic environment.

3 comments:

  1. My daughter is a college sophomore now. And your last paragraph sums up college to a T.

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  2. Caveat: College is much better. Rather, a steady diet of K-12 shapes thinking and a lot of kids show up at college with that ingrained mindset. Thanks to their grade school educators who planted the whole notion.

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  3. HomeworkBlues -- This is a bit of a non-sequitur, but did you see this news?

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