Schools Without Grades?

Hi Everyone,

Before reading the article “From Degrading to De-Grading” by Alfie Kohn (1999), I thought that schools without grades were just a dream. Are grades really a necessity when they might actually be causing more harm than good? Sure, getting a good grade feels great, but is that what school is about?

Kohn is passionately opposed to using and emphasizing the importance of grading and his article is very persuasive as he lists the harmful effects of this practice both in the classroom and on a personal level. According to motivational psychology, the reward almost always outshines the means and therefore, in this case, it can be argued that grades take the focus and joy away from actually learning. Also, grades “tend to reduce students’ preference for challenging tasks.” If students want, or feel pressured, to get an “A”, they will find that challenging themselves is a waste of time, not because they are lazy, but because they are rational. In essence, students are saying, “‘the easier the assignment, the more likely that I can give you what you want. So don’t blame me when I try to find the easiest thing to do and end up not learning anything.’” Furthermore, grades reduce thinking depth and quality among students. If students know that they are going to be graded, they will answer according to the restraints of the grade they want to receive. If they know that they will not be graded, they have more freedom to speak their minds and explore possibilities without restrictions. Studies show that students who are told that they will be graded on information have more trouble grasping the main point and retaining what they have “learned” than those students who were told that grades were not involved. Does this mean anything?

There is still more to consider. Grades can be (and often are) as subjective as the results are uninformative, they distort the curriculum (as they tail learning to make assessment easier), they waste a lot of time that could be spent on learning, they spoil teachers’ relationships with students, and spoil students’ relationships with each other (as the ranking sends the message that the point is to defeat others). If this is the result of grading, why are grades still used?

After reading this article, I am persuaded that grades are not as valuable as we have made them out to be. There are other (more empowering) systems of assessment, other motivations to maintain students’ attention, and other ways to get into colleges and universities. Even though I cannot rationally imagine all schools without grades, I can still dream. If grades take away from learning, there has to be a better system. Who knows? Maybe our being chained to the grading system is keeping us from exploring the possibilities, the very point that Kohn is trying to argue. What do you think?

Kohn, A. (1999, Mar). From Degrading to De-Grading. High School Magazine,


Blessings,
Marissa Carney