The issue of grading and its inconsistencies are currently being discussed by students and teachers alike all throughout the United States. There are both sides to this debate. The students believe that grades put an undue pressure on students, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The teachers, on the other hand, believe that grades are needed to propel improvement in students. For instance, if students did not know where they stand on a certain topic, they do not know where to go from there. However, both sides agree that the idea of grades mostly sets the students against each other. Ultimately, the students see grades as a scale of comparison with their classmates. Students with better grades almost see themselves as superior than students with lower grades. Unfortunately, students with lower grades have lower self-esteem when it comes to their education and their self-perspective.
As a student, I can see the student perspective of this argument from first hand experience. I remember when I was in middle school, our entire grade was pressured with the competition of making it onto the gold honor roll. The gold honor roll was set for all the students in the grade that had a grade point average that was higher than 90%. If you were on the gold honor roll, you received a special certificate and you got to go on a special school trip. In fact, the gold honor roll was posted in front of the principal’s office. Therefore, the entire school knew who was on the list and who was not. This created an environment of competition, not an environment that encouraged healthy improvement and health self-esteem.
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