Is professor Grossman off the mark when he says "I tell my students that if they just do what they are suppose to do they will meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C," he said "That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A." Why?
I think he's completely ON the mark. An A should be given for going above and beyond whereas a C should be given for doing the minimum required. If you do all the minimum requirements without putting a lot of effort into them, that should be considered average. However, students today see a C as not completing all assignments NOT as doing all the assignments without any effort. This probably roots from the experience of most teachers giving out assignments that are graded by giving a student (x) amount of points per portion they complete. For instance, a teacher may assign a paper in which the student receives 5 pt.s for the outline, 15pt.s for the rough draft and 30pt.s for the actual paper and as long as these requirements are met, the student gets the grade. I think part of this comes from the fact that a lot of teachers also give participation grades. For instance, my Anatomy and Physiology teacher gives 30pts just for showing up to lab. All I would have to do to get that 30pts is be there when he brings in the sign-out sheet. He also does the same thing in class; on random days he will assign group assignments for 10pts just for doing it. All in all, over half my grade in his class will be for just showing up. I could sleep all through class but as long as I am there, I can still get at least a D. I also think that teachers are too concerned with their students "suceeding" than their students learning. In otherwords, they're more concerned about what grade their students receive than what their students retain from the class. This in turn leads to giving simple assignments that take little effort from the student.
"I believe the root cause is our idea of "customer service". A school is a business. So, when "customers" (which depending on the grade level could be the students or the parents) complain, the business does its best to adapt to change as to not loose customers"
ReplyDeleteHeather, this is the best thoughtful work you have come up with. You may definitely be onto something here. Perhaps this is the process in that the schools are more worried about keep customers and garnering tuition to run their businesses then to turn out great products, I.e. great students who become great contributors to their society.