[lit-ideas] Re: Grade inflation
- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 22:40:53 -0400
At 10:33 PM 4/12/04, you wrote:
>Torger writes:
>
> >For papers and essays, a lone professor is the sole arbiter... one
> voice, one
>opinion -- no matter how honest, meticulous, and caring...<
>
>And what, really, is wrong with that (especially if the voice is 'honest,
>meticulous, and caring')? If a paper is read in light of the material
>presented,
>the discussions about it, conferences with the student before it is given
>in in
>a final version, is it really a defect in the system that a committee doesn't
>have a hand in assigning grades?
>
>John's openness about his criteria is commendable, but for all of that, simply
>spelling things out for students beforehand doesn't quite seem to address
>Torger's worries, if I understand them. One could no doubt say similar things
>about grading undergraduates who plan to go on to graduate or professional
>schools: 'The way I do it will be very much like the way things are done
>at your
>next academic stop.' Does this mean that my assessments will be 'more honest,
>meticulous, or caring'? Not unless something more is factored in. Today, a
>student remarked, 'Now I know how philosophy is done at Reed.' 'No you
>don't,' I
>said.
If I were to grade a 'subjective' subject [i.e. non-scientific] 's group of
assignments, I think I would still take a scientific approach. Sure, it
would take a little longer, but instead of marking the papers as I went, I
would make notes on each one and not mark a single one upon first reading.
Then I would pick the best one and give it an appropriate grade and mark
all the others according to what the best one got.
Paul
******************
Paul Stone
pas@xxxxxxxx
Leamington, ON
******************
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