Oct 10th - Entrance Slip

I agree whole-heartedly with the findings suggested by this study. Using grades (and more specifically testing) to motivate students is a largely detrimental practice that must be stopped as soon as possible.  

My first ‘stop’ in this article relates about the role of competition and grades. Specifically, this article notes that grades offer a concrete way for students to understand themselves relative to others. Although this may (temporarily) motivate those who thrive on competition, I suspect there are many students who are disadvantaged by this atmosphere. I personally feel a strong urge to step out of competition, especially in the context of testing. When taking a test, I do not like competing against my peers – regardless of whether I ‘win’ or ‘lose’, there is no glory, no motivation. I prefer to enjoy the problem solving and to see a test as an opportunity to discover what I know.

I think of my time as an engineering student. Although I am critical of this program in hind-sight, I loved the complete lack of competition in (at least my) social circles. Everyone shared resources because we all wanted each other to succeed. To us, tests and grades were evils to be fought together. In this way, tests and grades were a common enemy that united as and enhanced our learning.

The other ‘stop’ I had in this article was the emphasize on student autonomy. It is unsurprising to me that autonomy lead to greater intrinsic motivation. It also highlights the most sinister consequence of a rigid, content-based grade system: that we are depriving students of opportunities to engage in their own, authentic intellectual pursuits. I might argue that the opportunity cost of forcing students to learn specific curriculum (that they did not define) is even more detrimental than the stress this type of assessment is causing. 

I am strongly in favor of increase student autonomy. I am interested in how we might leverage the new BC curriculum to better assess a classroom of students who may, in theory, all pursue different topics. Of course I don't think this is appropriate for all classes - there are some skills that we as teachers can agree are valuable for most students. That being said, opportunities for autonomy are necessary if we want our students to