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Grading in American high schools has become less tough, and this has led to many students getting good grades as compared to their abilities. This soft grading has been associated with a decrease in the learning and growth of skills in the students. According to Marshall, there is a need to introduce a tougher system of grading students. According to him, the tougher the grading system, the better students it will produce. From his argument, giving students tough tests and harshly grading them makes them study more and be attentive to what they are taught. American schools need to introduce a tough grading system, and it will result in better performance and learning by the students.
The author argues that the grading system that is currently in use in the high schools in America has led to poor performance and behaviour by the students as they feel no pressure to study (Marshall, 1995). For them, grades are freely and easily achieved. The tough grading system that should be put in place will force the students to be more attentive and put more efforts in their studies. Students become complacent in undertaking their exams. His argument is effective as it has been backed by research from the University of California, where they argue that the nature of the grading system influences the students’ achievements and input. The previous research indicated that the tougher the grading system, the more the students will be inclined to work harder to avoid failing and getting poor grades. Grading systems in schools determine the effort that students input in their studies, and it is related to their achievements, even after school. Marshall concludes that the grading system in the schools need to be revised to ensure that the students get graded according to their efforts and achievements. Soft grading allows the students just to be joking around and expects good grades that do not reflect their abilities and skills. This has led to poor skills, knowledge, and understanding by the students. Better grades at the cost of poor grading results in students with less or no abilities at all, which makes them unsuitable for the world. The argument line by the author is that allowing the students to slack off in the institutions and giving them better grades encourages them to develop poor working skills.
The level of skills in a student is related to how they were graded, according to his argument. Having a tough grading system will help in horning the level and quality of skills (Marshall, 1995). Giving the students a common examination with a standardized grading system has been seen as the solution to make the students put more efforts in their studies, as said by the author. The common examinations will give a standard way of gauging the students and their understanding of what they were learning. The creation of a curriculum-based grading is a way that can be used to achieve better performance and achievements by the students. Students who are subjected to a well-set curriculum-based grading have been seen to be putting more efforts in their studies, and it has helped in bettering their performance and also the effort they put in their studies. Schools in America need to adopt this kind of testing of students and grading them, and it will help in eliminating the occurrence of the situations where the students get the grades that they do not deserve or have worked for.
In the article, the author assumes that introducing a tough grading system will automatically translate into better efforts, skills and achievements by the students (Marshall, 1995). The author has not looked at the influence of the earlier stages of learning and moulding of students from when they are introduced into schooling. Introducing tough grading measures in the higher levels of education will be ineffective as the culture of working hard and taking their studies seriously was not introduced in them since the formative ages. The assumption by the author that tough grading systems in the high schools will result in better achievements and working hard may be unrealistic as it will become an obstacle that the students have to overcome. It may lead to students using some underhand tactics to avoid failing the final exams.
Tougher grading measures can be seen as a way of making students take their studies seriously, but it also may pose more danger to the students and also the results. Students need to have the spirit and culture of working hard cultivated in them. It takes years of practice and learning to gain the skills and achievements that are needed in the students. In as much as the introduction of tough grading, measures will help in making students take their studies seriously; institutions need to come up with ways through which they will monitor and encourage the students to be disciplined and work towards bettering their performance. It is the only way that students will take their studies seriously.
References
Marshall, J. (1995, January 30). Tougher Grading Better for Students. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from SFGATE website: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Tougher-Grading-Better-for-Students-3047460.php