Book Post Midas Touch

In the book, Midas Touch: Why some entrepreneurs get rich-- and why most don't, by Donald Trump and Robert T. Kiyosaki,  I found a section that was pertinent regarding my research.

Howard Gardner, a development psychologist from Harvard University developed a theory that there are seven types of intelligence.  These include linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences.  He claimed these intelligences rarely operate independently; rather individuals have a unique blend.  As an educator, Gardner felt only the first two intelligences, linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences were valued in schools.  Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and spatial intelligences were associated with the arts and the final two Gardner called personal intelligences. 

           

Academia should not place so much value on just these two intelligences.  Students with good grades should not graduate thinking doing good in math, reading, or science is more important than doing well in music, athletics, or art. 

           

Some students just have the ability to get better grades.  Some students find memorizing easy, especially if they have a photographic memory.  After all, a test is simply a measurement of knowledge at a particular moment in time, usually linguistic, or logical-mathematical knowledge.  The test measures nothing of what a student may retain or the effort an individual is willing to take to succeed.  A test does not measure drive or other intelligences; more appropriate would be a grading system that measures enthusiasm, effort, drive and knowledge, some method that would overcome a student’s momentary weakness or wrong answer.    

 

Solutions news paper post

In the article, “Study Critiques Schools Over Subjective Grading”, from the Los Angeles Times, Douglas Reeves talks about the problem of subjective grading and possible solutions.  Reeves is an expert on grading systems.  He wanted to look more into the issue of subjectivity behind grading.  Therefore, Reeves conducted an experiment on 10,000 educators in the United States, Australia, and South America to determine the final grade for students receiving the following grades in this order: “C, C, MA (Missing Assignment), D, C, B, MA, MA, B, A.”  The final grades ranged from an “A” to an “F.” 

Other than his experiment, he shared his feelings on grading.  Reeves feels that teachers are using grades improperly and are completely missing the point behind them.  He claims that teachers just give grades to adjudicate a result.  However, they should not be used in this sense, but instead to help students improve.  

Reeves included several solutions regarding the grading system problem.  First, he suggested setting learning targets and linking grades to the achievement of those targets.  I agree this is a good idea.  I feel a task-by-task learning is an effective way to truly understand and learn something.  Another was giving grades based solely on achievement and separately reporting attendance, effort and participation.   This also is not a bad thought, since this is a way to remove the subjectivity. Also I found his idea of making sure students understand how their grades are being determined very appropriate.  For a student to succeed, it is necessary and fair that they know how they are being graded.

Revees, Douglas. "Unfair grade? Blame your teacher - Study finds grading is quite             subjective." Daily Reporter-Herald, The (Loveland, CO) 3 Oct. 2009, A:             1. NewsBank. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Interview post

While researching my issue of the problem with grading, I remembered a story my aunt Sofia once told me.  The story was about an incident that clearly exhibited the subjectivity behind grading.  The story was about her daughter, Penny.

Penny and Robin were neighbors, friends, and eight graders both attending Hinsdale Middle School.  Since English was such an important subject, these students had extended classes for ninety minutes a day.  Penny had English in the beginning of the school day and Robin had English during eight and ninth period.  They shared an honors teacher that had five classes a day with approximately one hundred twenty students. Often, they would work together on their homework.  Both girls were very good writers.  They would write papers together, correcting each other, and checking each other’s grammar and spelling.  That being said, a lot of their work was very similar.  However, Penny would always come home with a slightly better grade than Robin.  If Penny would get a “B”, Robin would get a “B-”; if Penny would get a “B+” then Robin would get a “C+”.  Therefore, one day they decided to test the teacher.  They were assigned a descriptive paper and they wrote the exact paper, word for word.  Penny turned the paper in first period and Robin turned the same paper in during the teacher’s last period.  They got their grades back; again there was a whole grade difference between them.  One paper had one person’s name and the other had another name, the only dissimilarity.  They could not be sure if that influenced the teacher.  They did confront the teacher.  The teacher did not know what to say, except, “A lot of the times I am reading one hundred papers all on the same subject, I get tired, and often I am in a different mood.”  

This story, told to me by my aunt, perfectly illustrates the problem students face.