I received the stack of 10 page research papers that I have to go through in a weeks time and am finding the process quite fascinating, but very difficult. First of all, since I have a pretty good idea of who pays attention, sleeps in class, shows up late, etc... I felt I had a pretty good sense of who my A students are, who my B students are, etc...
So to usurp my pre-disposition, I ask the students to turn in their papers with their ID numbers only, no names, so that I could read each paper individually on its own merits. At the time, I felt like this would be the most fair and equitable way to judge the content for the contents sake, without regard to the note-passing, cell phone disruptions and late attendance sign-ins. I think part of me did this because I pride myself in being judged on my skills and not my race, age, sex or anything else.
Not only do I now realize how much more work I created for myself, but am questioning whether or not teaching and grading discriminatorily might be better for everyone. Not to mention the fact that people are stating things in their papers that I don't even know if it's true or not??? And how much do you focus on terrible grammar and lack of sentence structure?? I could easily say, I get what they are trying to say, but they said in such a horrible way, that I should not place myself in the position to make assumptions for what they are writing...
I now realize that I shouldn't show prejudice towards any one, but I HAVE to discriminate. Let me explain.
There is no easy way to determine who is going to be successful after school based on their school performance, so it becomes a question of who do you spend the most time trying to help? Do you spend your time pushing the talented but lazy ones? Do you spend your time raising the mediocrity bar higher in hopes that the collective will gain from a higher standard? How do you balance the two because there are clearly people that need a lot more help than others.
Unless you can discriminately choose who to help and when, then everyone gets the same level of attention which is not necessarily needed which translates to my time being spent uneconomically. I'm going to continue down the path I've started, but I'm questioning whether or not this was the right thing to do. But the whole process is very 'priest-like' in a way in that you find yourself gravitating towards 'need', you seek it out and the people that are okay, you let them be.
There are systems in place at most schools to reward the best and ensure that they are promoted and given the special attention they deserve, while allowing the rest of the people, the mediocre, to float by and somehow receive validation that there is a place for them in this world. As a matter of fact, most universities and damn near our whole economy is based on the mediocre.
I've realized that college is a sort of dumping ground for the middle class. It is a safe place that parents don't mind paying the money to keep their kids off of the streets and relatively out of trouble because you are placed in an environment where the extent of lawlessness involves getting high.
Most of the kids are there because their mothers placed them there and only a handful have made the conscious choice to study architecture because it is some lifelong dream or have received some sort of calling that has brought them to the profession. The rest are just mediocre in most everything they do and are content to be so.
So a B for one person means a lot more than a B to someone else who may feel like they deserve an A. This is why grading is so difficult because many students see grades as a sort of validation to their parents are themselves for any number of things rather than focusing on the enrichment of their minds and understand that they are at a University to gain as much knowledge as possible and there is no grade that anyone can give them that will properly measure that.~C
CD of the moment: Various Artists - After Dark: Chicago
3 comments:
Okay, I guess you can tell that work has eased up a bit, because this is my 3rd post to your Chronicles. Anyway, let me clear my throat...
In my opinion, you should grade the content of the papers regardless of who you perceive to be an "A" student or not...no disparate treatment. If a person is really an "A" student, wouldn't their written work reflect that? You gets no pass just because you feign paying attention in class or because you are one of the few who remembers to put their cell phone on vibrate. You gets no pass! And if the brotha who perpetually comes in late actually has a good written product, then the grade for his paper should reflect that, while his overall grade for the class should factor in his tardiness. I'm sorry. Maybe my lack of compassion stems from the fact that I'm not given any passes at work just because I show up on time and look like I'm interested in a particular case. Regardless of my punctuality or my ability to remember to "silence" my cell phone in meetings, the people I work for only give credit when credit is due. And if I turn in a sh*tty work product, no amount of punctuality can save me. I say all this to say that if we begin to assert our expectations of exemplary work upon students at the collegiate level, they will exit college carrying those expectations with them. Meeting high expectations in college transcends to the workplace in particular and to the real world in general. So I say, grade them as harshly as you need to so that they can "come up" and be better in school, at work, in life.
that's a really interesting chronicle. it's interesting that your
effort to be fair and impartial actually has you thinking your time
would be better spent giving more attention to those you know to be
better....
just goes to show that the idea of "meritocracy" the way it's been
defined in this culture, is not always the best way to determine one's
ability to succeed...
that said, val makes a good point...
but Val, you talk about grading people in a way to prepare them for life, and I would argue that in life, you are rarely evaluated on content as much as you are on who you are, how you act, who you know, etc... In life, everyone has 'good enough' content to manage (because of all the mediocre people), so it all comes down to everything else that you do that would truly define you as an 'A' or 'B' student.... that's not saying it is the right way to evaluate people, but I truly believe this...
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