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By Lucas L.
Student disappointed by an F- on a test (Elina L., Lucas L., Maddox B.)
What is the worst part of the transition from middle school to high school? Letter grades, of course! Highly stress-inducing and widely detested, letter grades are a highly controversial part of middle school and beyond.
After extensive research on letter grades, I have come to the conclusion that letter grades should not exist and that feedback is more important than any letter. Feedback is what really gives students the opportunity to truly understand their mistakes and improve on them. But this isn’t the only reason why students shouldn’t receive letter grades.
Education expert Alfie Kohn told the National Education Association that “letter grades are not only unnecessary but harmful.” They make students more motivated to get a good grade rather than to learn more and improve, which is very damaging to a student's learning. It fosters a rigid mindset instead of the learning or growth mindset that is one of the core values here at Lakeside.
Even when teachers give thorough feedback with a grade, most students don’t read it. They just look at the grade and then never look at the paper again. If letter grades were eliminated, there would be a higher chance that students would look at the feedback and try to improve their work, compared to simply chasing a meaningless grade. It would also be more likely that teachers would write long, descriptive, meaningful, feedback.
The Lakeside Leo asked people from all four grades about letter grades. Let’s see what they said: 69.3% of 89 participants said that they do support the existence of letter grades(see chart above). Most people's defense for letter grades was “Grades make us work harder.” However, this does not reflect the research; according to a 2012 study, students are not motivated by grades but instead “by their duty to parents.” Indeed, the most common reason that people did not support letter grades was stress, suggesting that “working hard” is creating anxiety, not learning.
During the early pandemic, more and more colleges and universities began to switch off of traditional grading systems. I hope this trend continues even after the pandemic ends. With all of the stress in school, why should letter grades further add to it?
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