Do we need a new definition of smart, or do we as a society need to come to realize that there are different ways of measuring intelligence? I knew a guy who was barely able to graduate due to grades, but his tech school teacher knew him as a guy who could build a computer from scratch.
Is the school grading system outdated, or do educators need to drop the competitive aspect? The classroom setting has moved from students learning content to unfair GPA wars. Grading ethics are blocking the student from progressing with their knowledge rather than helping them advance. Systems like this or similar to this make the line between academic performance and academic pursuit very blurry. Some students don’t care about what they learn but only the letter on the top of their paper, so that confuses the student within themself when it comes to test day, and they don’t know any of the material.
I believe that the school grading systems as a whole are a good idea when it comes to keeping students on task and learning time management, but when people are too lazy to do the work, and only care about the grade, they aren’t learning anything. There are so many students now, especially with the new age of technology, who cheat their way up and then get compared to the students who try their hardest and are still barely passing.
Grades, good or bad, are subjective and are necessary for a report card. Students constantly think their grades are terrible, but some could look at others and look up to them because they are barely passing.
Having straight A’s doesn’t make someone a genius, and having D’s and F’s doesn’t make someone unintelligent. There are so many different types of intelligence levels that grades shouldn’t measure how smart you are in any class.
When they know a test is coming up, most students just study the unit, or what they need to know to get by. Therefore, the teachers are testing short-term memorization rather than whether my students learn what they need to. Not to mention the uneven access to resources, time, and supplies. When a student is less fortunate, has to spend all their time working, taking care of their siblings, or just struggling in general, their work is compared to that of other students who have all the time and money to advance their learning.
Many different companies have researched if GPA shows understanding of material. Data collected has shown that the higher the GPA, or lack of, doesn’t show how smart one may be. Looking at Daily Campus, a news website that wrote an article about the topic, they reviewed why grades in school might not equal a higher IQ.
“[Students] grades do not reflect their understanding of the material… [using] grades so heavily causes students to focus not on learning or honing their abilities but mastering testing [strategies]… all too often, tests are based on regurgitation rather than actual learning,” Daily Campus articulated.
All in all, grades can only measure so much, but they do not measure how hard students work, how smart they are, or even the potential they have. Intelligence is not the letter on top of the page, it is not the red pen marks all over the essay and it is certainly not the GPA you have. One’s intelligence is only gained by how much they learn, not the comprehension they have, but the knowledge that comes with it.
