#social-issues

Dear Reader,

This image inspired me to write about the following:

- Grades, Education, Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

These are merely my thoughts, opinions, and/or stance on the above topic(s), and should NOT be accepted as fact without having conducted your own research beyond the scope of this article. That being said, I do hope that these words will inspire you to think critically on the topic, while keeping all points of view in mind. Now let’s get started…

I was originally going to write this post on June 20th, but life got in the way. I also realized that I needed to spend a little more time critically thinking about my position on these matters. That being said, I have returned to my initial belief, with some caveats. Being a student has been my primary or secondary career for the better part of the last two decades. As I have aged, I went from a kid who would do just about anything to get an A to one who feels that our entire educational system needs reformation. Here’s a little over 1000 words on why I think things need to change.

Why do we (read: I) go to class?

When I was younger, I went to school to get good grades. That was it. I didn’t particularly care for learning, because most things came easily to me. Getting good grades meant I was smart, and getting better grades than everyone else meant that I was smarter than everyone else.

I would graduate from high school and be faced with reality. Not only was I no longer the smartest person in the world (nor was I ever), but having good grades didn’t make me the smartest person either. In my early undergraduate years, I would find that I would sometimes get better grades than my classmates, but they would understand and be able to apply the material better than I would be able to. I would rely on them to get As in the class, while they would get Bs for various reasons, despite having a better grip on the subject material than I did.

I now understand that we go to class to acquire knowledge of information and skills and the best ways to apply that knowledge and skills. My idea of a good student is no longer one who merely gets good grades, but is instead one who acquires knowledge of a given subject and can continue to apply that knowledge beyond the classroom. I have learned to accept my Cs on my transcript, as those often represent classes that I struggled in, and therefore learned a lot from, while As typically represent classes that I coasted in. This brings me to my next point.

I am not a fan of the A-F grading scale

Ideally, grades would provide an indicator of student aptitude, performance, and mastery of subject material. I do believe that the A-F scale can be representative of a student’s performance in the class (almost certainly. How does one get an A in a class they did incredibly poorly in?) and perhaps even their aptitude (A student who averages a 90% in the class probably has the aptitude to quickly process and understand information). However, grades are often the only representative of a student’s mastery of the course in situations where the grading is honest and transparent. When there are several sources suggesting that many institutions of higher education will artificially inflate grades, these grades lose almost all meaning. Students are often in situations where they are no longer learning, but merely trying to achieve the highest letter grade, regardless of what they learn.

Allow me to briefly speak on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is defined as any motivation that comes from outside an individual. Money, fame, and praise are extrinsic motivators, as they originate from outside of the individual. Intrinsic motivation originates from inside an individual, and solely exists for the purpose of creating positive emotions in the individual. Taking a class because you might love the material or the instructor is intrinsic motivation. Taking a class because you need a grade in said class to graduate is an example of extrinsic motivation. Graduating is the intrinsic end, while the grade is simply a means to an end.

Grades have become, and maybe always have been, an extrinsic motivator. They are viewed as something that students achieve as a means to an end (graduating, getting more money, higher prestige, not getting kicked out, making their parents happy), instead of viewing their education as an intrinsic end itself (learning more about their world and how to interact with it). When the average letter grade is the highest letter grade possible, then the system has lost all meaning.

So what’s the solution?

I personally believe that the solution to the problem of intrinsically and extrinsically motivated students would have to include the revision or abandonment of the A-F letter scale, which emphasizes getting the lucrative “A” grade over all other factors. This could potentially be completed with a shift to transcript evaluation instead of using a GPA to define a student’s aptitude.

Perhaps a pass/fail numeric grading system with a “course rating” system could be a solution. Students would only receive a pass/fail grade on their transcripts, but instructors would provide a bell curve with median class numeric grades for each instance of each course they provide, perhaps through a centralized system. Classes with lower numerical averages would be considered “more difficult”, and students with more passing grades in more difficult courses would be coveted. Theoretically, this would be a deflationary system as compared to our current inflationary system, as students would be encouraged to take harder courses to achieve higher status, while professors would be encouraged to be more honest, and even more difficult, with their grading to keep their class medians from ballooning and preserve the prestige of their course.

One of the potential pitfalls of this method is that it would add additional stress to students, as classes would be encouraged to be more rigorous to maintain their prestige. This would ideally be offset by having a pass/fail system, where students merely have to pass a class to achieve its prestige. Another pitfall for this system is its reliance on instructor integrity, as the system falls apart if instructors deflate grades and then pass everyone anyways. This could be remedied by having professor’s grade students honestly as they pursue mastery of a course, as evaluated by a final exam or project. Students that fail a course could also be allowed to retake the course as many times as they want, with the most recent course outcome replacing all previous outcomes. This could reduce student pressure to pass a class on the first try, and instead shift focus to passing a class when sufficiency has been achieved.

Much of the world operates on a pass/fail system. No one cares whether I got maximum points on my driving test. We only care that I displayed proficiency in operating a motor vehicle.

I recognize that there are other potential pitfalls to this outline that I have not considered, and I do not mean for this to be the one fix-all solution. I am merely stating my belief that we have become complacent with our current educational system, and a better system may exist that could remove the extrinsic motivator of letter grades and produce more intrinsically motivated students, which could produce more efficacious citizens. There are many sources suggesting that students need to become more intrinsically motivated, and maybe one day a solution can be found and widely adopted.

How do you feel about the content and topics covered in this post? Feel free to let me know in the comments, or reach out to me on social media if you prefer a private discussion. If you enjoyed reading this post, click here to read more, and be sure to follow this blog on social media for more frequent updates!

Always Yours,