A Brief Note On Abolish Grading And The American Education...

In â€Å"A Proposal to Abolish Grading† Paul Goodman suggests grading students is only setting them up for failure. He states, â€Å"a student will retain nothing of what he has â€Å"passed† in.† Goodman believes that students shouldn’t be tested for a grade, â€Å"but for his own advantage† so the student isn t just â€Å"trying to get by† he will actually be encouraged to learn the material. Grades and testing have been around for over a century. Every American has had some kind of schooling in their life. As a student, I’ve always entered a new class with the mindset that I need to pass that class, hardly ever have I thought, â€Å"I need to learn as much as I can in this class.† So why should the system that educators believe works and have used for so long change? The American education system values grades and test scores more than students value learning. Teachers expect their students to work hard for good grades and ac hieve the highest possible test scores on standardized test. If all teachers are concerned about is the grades their students are getting and not whether or not they are learning the material being taught to them. They can’t expect students to retain the knowledge they are receiving with the pressure of high expectations from teachers. The stress of memorizing for a test is unbelievable. All students care about is how many questions they can get right, what grade they have received, and how much it will affect their grade. A majority of students forgets the material they spent