Last week, Jan Wong, currently an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communications at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, wrote an article for the Chronicle Herald outlining her concern about her Journalism students cheating on quizzes.
The sentences from her post that most resonated with me are below.
It should be no surprise at all that some students at a university are “conditioned to work for marks and only marks”.
The only criterion for acceptance to the university is “high marks”.
When universities filter applicants based on marks, so that only students with really great marks can enter the institution, the students who arrive and attend class there will include those who have learned to play a game very well, and who will continue to play that game when they arrive.
Any senior high school teacher can attest to the fact that learning is not the priority for many grade 11 and 12 students. The priority is getting the highest two-digit number possible through whatever means are necessary so that he/she can get access to a university program.
The ramifications of this selection process are numerous, and often do not relate to learning at all. Some are, in fact, very negative.
- Parents may bully the teachers who don’t give the needed or expected grades.
- Students may select courses based on who they know will give them the marks they want.
- Parents will track down a Principal in the summer and demand that their child’s marks be changed.
- Students tell teachers that the mark they have received for their assignment is “unacceptable” and that they will need something higher.
- “Cheating” is rampant on tests, exams and assignments.
- Students learn to seek out exams from previous years, tests and student notes from previous years.
- They learn how best to get as many marks as possible on every test and exam.
- They will do almost anything for “bonus marks”, and they learn to manipulate a teacher to offer those “bonus marks”.
Students and parents figure out how to play the game.
Alfie Kohn has been writing about the problem with grades for many years. One of his best articles is “From Degrading to De-Grading” (http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/fdtd-g.htm), where he explores, among other things, the observations that grades reduce a student’s preference for challenging tasks, the quality of their thinking, and their interest in learning.
The lack of interest in learning by students who have been told that marks are what matters is well-documented, as in the observation below from Janice Fiamengo:
Those who do well are called “good students”. Some schools give out awards to students with the highest marks, encouraging competition instead of collaborative learning, and reinforcing that marks are what is really important at that school.
While there is a large and growing movement to put learning at the centre of the what school is about, as long as that final mark is the only requirement for university entrance, marks will remain the focus.
And universities will get what they have selected for. When students don’t get the marks they want at university, they will react exactly as they have learned to react.
Once again, Janice Fiamengo:
Fortunately, even the straight-A students are questioning their school experience and why “marks” are seen as so important. Afraj Gill from “An A+ Student Regrets His Grades“:
Learning to manipulate teachers to get good grades becomes an art form in itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8s13_yOLeE
We need to deeply question a system with these values. Is this the best way to graduate innovators and entrepreneurs?
I believe that we are rethinking what schools are for, how to nurture natural curiosity, and how to use focused innovation in our teaching in the K-12 sector. I also see evidence that some post-secondary schools are beginning to understand that marks are not the best predictor of learning.
But as long as marks are the sole filter for entrance to university, we will be challenged to put learning, not grades, at the centre of what schools are for.
*Add-On -> A favourite post from @KarlFisch: http://thefischbowl.blogspot.ca/2013/10/your-gda-is-more-important-than-your-gpa.html
@sethgodinblog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2014/02/doing-what-gets-rewarded.html
Excellent post Donna. This really resonated with me. I teach grade 11 and 12 students and really try to emphasize the importance of learning over marks. This semester I am teaching a student who is taking grade 12 English with me for a second time even though he was very successful the first time through. He’s not there to deepen his understanding–he’s there to try to bump up his mark to get an entrance scholarship based on a ridiculous average. He’s a lovely student and I’m happy to have him in my class again but this obsession with grades is squashing any real learning. It prevents students from taking healthy risks. As I said, I do my best to de-emphasize marks and I give them multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning, but as long as universities emphasize marks over learning, students and parents will too.