I have often said that I hate to grade people -- I am a teacher and I must affix a grade to their efforts -- or at least as the system is currently constituted I must grade them. And I hate the process of grading.
I do not in the least mind explaining to them what they did wrong and what they did right. Of course it is a difficult process, a time consuming process--but I am being paid to educate, and in some deep sense, I love being able to explain how the process works, how they can improve their writing.
But I hate to affix a grade. However, to say that I hate to grade is to say nothing new -- I've said it before, many others have said it before me. The total truth is far more complex.
I just returned a batch of papers to a class, and my way of teaching them involves a group of them grading along with me. I've already graded the paper, but I ask them to asses the paper and then grade it. Almost always their guess is quite close to my actual grade., but for the first time in a very long time -- it hardly ever happens -- my grades were radically different than their guesses.
I gave many very low grades. I was angry. Some had handed in a page and three quarters when I said I would fail any paper that was even a few lines short of two pages. And I felt many papers were hastily thrown together the night before they were due. As I read & read I grew angrier and angrier. Did I take it out on them? Perhaps -- and it was then that I realized I want grade power over them.
I make minimum requirements: the choice of subject is up to them. Although other teachers require four page long papers, I ask for two pages and eventually I work them up to four pages. I am lenient about spelling -- etc., etc. But what can I do about those few people who take advantage of even my minimum requirements? Give them 0.0. Flunk 'em.
Am I being mean? The system pays me to be mean. They give me a grade to wield, and they expect me to wield this rod, this grade.
Perhaps now is the time to say I am against grades altogether. I believe in schools that are, in a sense, lecture halls. I talk--they listen. They may submit samples of their work for me to comment on, mark up, but they'd better not dare to ask for a grade. I don't grade people. However, I have not been hired to teach within such a system.
Those I am assigned to teach have grown up in a system that has rewarded them for little effort on their part. To do well in my classes you must work hard - -unless you already are a good writer. Those who are not gifted that way naturally--and that encompasses most of mankind, must work, follow rules, master new techniques.
And that is why I like grade power. They won't work unless the rod of discipline is applied. Therefore for me to say that "I hate to grade" is not totally true. In this system, I hate to grade the student who is working hard, following rules, doing the best he or she can. A grade for such a person is a demeaning numerical evaluation. But for a great many of my students the fear of a poor grade is the only motivator. Often I end up using a grade as a big stick. I hate a system that makes me do it, but once I am in such a system, I almost gleefully slam a low grade on poor efforts: take that. And next time, work harder.
Copyright © 2004 Henry Morgenstein