Grades cause Students to Focus Less on Learning
Grades have a powerful effect on many students. Grades affect a variety of things including scholarships, GPA's, college admission, and future opportunities. It is natural for students to feel some stress about getting good grades in college. Additionally, grades help to influence students to study the material, prepare for tests, and strive for excellence in their assignments. There are however many issues that have come about because of the grading structure, which have caused many educators to look for other solutions. A major issue that has been noticed by educators in the United States is how students are focusing less on learning the material and more on getting good grades.
Dropping Classes
A determinant to the learning process of college aged students has been the fear of failure. The fear of messing up or getting a bad grade in a class can prevent a student from pursuing a major or class.
An Engineering professor named Joseph Holtgreive at Northwestern University mentioned that he has seen this problem numerous times in a lot of his students. Holtgreive explains a situation that deals with this very issue that he experiences on a frequent basis. A student waited a little bit after class to talk to him about dropping the class. The student was concerned that because she did not do well on the first midterm exam. Additionally the student mentioned that "she thought he/she could get an A without studying." This is an attitude that is common among many students throughout colleges in the United States. The fear of getting good grades prevents the students from taking classes that will push them to study, or really learn the material. In a culture of easy solutions to problems, many students want to have a breeze through college. Another interesting point about this situation with Holgreive and the student was that the student found that she actually really liked the course readings. This suggests that although she enjoyed the material she did not want to put in the effort to make actually learn the material.
What is the focus of a College Education?
The main focus of most college students is not to learn the material, but the main focus is to get good grades to help them in their future employment. Although there is no fault in the mindset of preparing for the future now, this mindset does limit how much a student is willing to learn. It seems now days that a lot of students are willing to do the bare minimum in order to get a college education, instead of striving to gain all they can from this plentiful feast of knowledge. In a recent survey that I conducted of a group of around 60 former or current college students, the results showed a similar trend. 44.9% of students were more focused on getting good grades rather than learning the material. The desire for most colleges to make life-long learners is reaching a dead end with grades. It has been proven that most students are focusing less on learning, and more on the constant pressure of grades.
It Works
In comparison to traditional grades, mastery based learning increases learning and decreases stress. Multiple schools all across the world have been trying out mastery based learning. The University of Singapore actually was one of the ones that tried this out. They had a different twist and purpose to it all. When freshman would come into the University for their freshman year, the first year of college was based on mastery learning. The purpose of this was to decrease the stress during the transition from high to college. The also wanted to try out the system to see if it would work at other levels of their college education. The results of the study showed that students felt like they could take more risks, their stress decrease, and adapt to their first year of college. These strengths allow us to see how mastery learning can help learning in colleges in the United States.
Dropping Classes
A determinant to the learning process of college aged students has been the fear of failure. The fear of messing up or getting a bad grade in a class can prevent a student from pursuing a major or class.
An Engineering professor named Joseph Holtgreive at Northwestern University mentioned that he has seen this problem numerous times in a lot of his students. Holtgreive explains a situation that deals with this very issue that he experiences on a frequent basis. A student waited a little bit after class to talk to him about dropping the class. The student was concerned that because she did not do well on the first midterm exam. Additionally the student mentioned that "she thought he/she could get an A without studying." This is an attitude that is common among many students throughout colleges in the United States. The fear of getting good grades prevents the students from taking classes that will push them to study, or really learn the material. In a culture of easy solutions to problems, many students want to have a breeze through college. Another interesting point about this situation with Holgreive and the student was that the student found that she actually really liked the course readings. This suggests that although she enjoyed the material she did not want to put in the effort to make actually learn the material.
What is the focus of a College Education?
The main focus of most college students is not to learn the material, but the main focus is to get good grades to help them in their future employment. Although there is no fault in the mindset of preparing for the future now, this mindset does limit how much a student is willing to learn. It seems now days that a lot of students are willing to do the bare minimum in order to get a college education, instead of striving to gain all they can from this plentiful feast of knowledge. In a recent survey that I conducted of a group of around 60 former or current college students, the results showed a similar trend. 44.9% of students were more focused on getting good grades rather than learning the material. The desire for most colleges to make life-long learners is reaching a dead end with grades. It has been proven that most students are focusing less on learning, and more on the constant pressure of grades.
It Works
In comparison to traditional grades, mastery based learning increases learning and decreases stress. Multiple schools all across the world have been trying out mastery based learning. The University of Singapore actually was one of the ones that tried this out. They had a different twist and purpose to it all. When freshman would come into the University for their freshman year, the first year of college was based on mastery learning. The purpose of this was to decrease the stress during the transition from high to college. The also wanted to try out the system to see if it would work at other levels of their college education. The results of the study showed that students felt like they could take more risks, their stress decrease, and adapt to their first year of college. These strengths allow us to see how mastery learning can help learning in colleges in the United States.
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