By: Addison Strack

Grades are looked at in many different ways. Some people consider them a good thing, while others feel the opposite way. This article will be sharing information about how grades, and the grading system, are both positive and negative, and how they impact students.

Pros

There are many benefits to the grading system that can help students in their academic careers. One of the main purposes that the grading system serves is to give students feedback on their assignments and tests. This feedback can help students to improve their work, and learn more about themselves, and their learning style.

Grades also help teachers understand where their students are at in their learning levels. This can give teachers an idea of who might need some extra help, and who understands the assignments.

Another benefit that grades have is giving students a goal, and something to work for. This teaches them important skills they’ll need for their future, such as setting a goal, and making a plan to achieve this goal.

Another way that grades prepare students for the future is by teaching them how to use the feedback they receive.

One final positive about grades is that they are almost universally used, and this makes them fairly easy to understand.

Cons

Although the grading system does have many positive aspects to it, there are some negative parts to it as well.

One of the main downsides to the grading system is that it can cause students a lot of stress and anxiety. Students have a lot of pressure to have good grades from not only parents and teachers, but themselves as well. If students receive a bad grade, this can lower their self esteem and confidence.

According to UOpeople.edu, in a survey, 80% of college freshmen said that their self-worth was connected to their grades. This means that they felt that whatever grade they got determined if they were good enough or not.

Earlier, it was mentioned that students can have pressure from their parents to get good grades. This is because many parents consider grades a reflection of how much their child is paying attention, and/or trying in school. They may punish their children if they receive a bad grade, and this can lead to a strained relationship between a parent and child.

One final downside to the grading system is that it doesn’t necessarily represent a student’s understanding of a topic accurately. Everyone is different, and has different ways of learning and understanding information.

Many students will attempt to memorize information that will be on their next assessment, but don’t actually understand or learn what they are memorizing, and forget a lot of the information after the assessment.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that the grading system has many different positive and negative impacts, and there are many differing opinions of whether it is a good or bad thing. There is solid evidence and strong arguments for both sides of this question, but the answer may never be decided.

If you would like to read more about the pros and cons of the grading system, feel free to check out these website:

• https://fedena.com/blog/2018/07/pros-and-cons-of-letter-grading-system-in-k-12.html
• https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/grading-student-work/#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20grading%20provides%20students%20with,can%20inform%20future%20teaching%20decisions.
• https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/effects-of-grading-system-on-students/
• https://www.thnk.org/blog/3-reasons-grades-bad-education/#:~:text=Grades%2C%20ideally%20 intended%20as%20an,comprehension%20of%20the%20subject%20matter.