Should grades be eliminated from education? The answer remains neutral, due to people having many different perspectives. There are many good points for the disagree side, as well as the agree side.
A good point for the agree side of this argument is the fact that grades do not necessarily help students. Grades can cause large amounts of anxiety and stress. Whether they are letter grades or percentages, they cause equal amounts of stress to many students. Some students struggle with balancing their grades and other life events such as sports, clubs and extracurricular activities. Although grades can help teachers in some ways, they do not benefit most students. Some teachers are against grades. “It bred all these perfectionists [who] were not resilient and just focused on a number,” says Mary Lawlor, a sixth grade English teacher. This quote is showing that not all teachers think grades benefit them or their students.
A good point for the disagree side of this argument is the fact that teachers need to see where their students are academically. Without grades, teachers would be unable to help their students in the ways that they need. School is not only to educate students, but it is to teach the students responsibility as well. With grades, students can be responsible for them and keeping them up. Without them, how can students be taught responsibility? “Grades motivate us to do better,” says Anna Everhart, a student at HFL Middle School. This quote shows that not all students believe that grades should be removed from education.
Should grades be eliminated from education? This text states many good points for both sides of the argument. Grades cause students large amounts of stress, but without them teachers do not know how to help their students improve. Do grades actually benefit students? Should we remove them from education?
Work cited
Anderson, Jenny. “The Case for Eliminating Letter Grades, According to a School with Too Many Straight-A Students.” Quartz, Quartz, 17 Aug. 2017, qz.com/1038258/one-schools-strategy-to-raise-empathetic-and-self-motivated-citizens-ditch-grades/.