Good Morning, I have been thinking about a new to me concept. Last week I was sitting in a class we started talking about the European concept of grading. It appears in the UK the emphasis is on whether or not one passes or fails. However here in the US we are overly concerned about the prospect of scoring in the upper percentile. As I started to think about this concept I had a revelation.
What if in this country we started to focus more on Pass or Fail? I believe that we would see more participation in schools and higher level education. As you may have realized once you graduate and move on into the corporate world no one cares about your GPA or if you where in fact an "A" student. All that matters is if you passed or failed your particular discipline.
This concept is somewhat eye opening, Think about it, do you know if your doctor was an "A" or "C" student? Was your CPA a "B" student, in all truthfulness we do not care, nor do we think about it, all that we are concerned about is, does he have the degree that says he passed the course. Being that this is the case why do we make it so hard on our kids when in fact what they should be focusing on is gaining a basic understanding of whatever it is that they are learning. We are far to competitive in this country and that is all the grading system is about. We feel the need to compartmentalize everything and everyone. The "A" student may not be a better Dr. than the "C" student however he may be a better test taker.
So think about it do we really care about the Grades that one gets or is it more important to know if that person passed or failed?
something to think about.
What if in this country we started to focus more on Pass or Fail? I believe that we would see more participation in schools and higher level education. As you may have realized once you graduate and move on into the corporate world no one cares about your GPA or if you where in fact an "A" student. All that matters is if you passed or failed your particular discipline.
This concept is somewhat eye opening, Think about it, do you know if your doctor was an "A" or "C" student? Was your CPA a "B" student, in all truthfulness we do not care, nor do we think about it, all that we are concerned about is, does he have the degree that says he passed the course. Being that this is the case why do we make it so hard on our kids when in fact what they should be focusing on is gaining a basic understanding of whatever it is that they are learning. We are far to competitive in this country and that is all the grading system is about. We feel the need to compartmentalize everything and everyone. The "A" student may not be a better Dr. than the "C" student however he may be a better test taker.
So think about it do we really care about the Grades that one gets or is it more important to know if that person passed or failed?
something to think about.
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