GRADES

This latest post about grades is very interesting. Since day one we are taught about the importance of grades and I guess I just accepted what I was being told to be true. It's hard to imagine what my life would have been like if grades had not been a main part of it. Looking back now, so much of my life has been devoted to something that now seems so trivial. I feel that the grading system that is currently in place does not accurately reflect how much a student has learned. Schools give students one chance to demonstrate everything they've learned in an hour and a half time period by filling out tiny bubbles on a green and blue strip of paper. If you fail, then you haven't learned anything. It is my opinion that part of learning IS failing. When you make a mistake, you then can identify what you did wrong and make the right decision the next time. It doesn't seem like the grading system is going to change anytime soon, so I better get used to it. Hopefully one day school will be less about how high one's test scores are, and more about how much one has actually learned.