Grades and the Façade of Contemporary Pedagogy

Psychologists advise against comparing oneself to others if one’s goal is to achieve happiness and success. Many modern educators, on the other hand, offer the opposite advice. At least, that’s the advice implicit within our grade-based school system.

The grade — that central pillar of Western educational dogma under which students are groomed from early childhood — leverages comparison to vault some pupils into illustrious careers, while simultaneously crushing the hopes and dreams of others. Is this an ideal foundation upon which to construct a high-functioning society? Alfie Kohn, in his 2011 essay “The Case Against Good Grades,” lays out some compelling arguments that it is not.

Kohn points out that focusing on grades degrades students’ intrinsic motivation to learn, that is, “the desire to learn for its own sake.” The reason students do good work in the framework of contemporary schooling, Kohn says, is to get good grades. What lesson is this anachronistic model teaching students? The lesson is that the point of doing good work is to get a good grade. The sense of pride in doing good, honest work is stripped from the actual work and placed in the attainment of the top mark. Students berated with this message throughout their educational journeys cannot be blamed for seeking the proverbial A through dogged, joyless, unfulfilling…