A World Without Grades

In my ideal world --as a faculty member of Utopian Community College in Nowhere, AZ (which is not the same place as Nothing, AZ; see photo)-- I would totally do away with grades.

Grades, I say.  Away with you! Feedback?  Yes! Evaluation?  Absolutely!  But no grades. Students would take on the responsibility of self-assessment (with sagely guidance from yours truly).  Learning would be for learning's sake. Period.

I actually tried that once.  While teaching at Grand Canyon University, a colleague and I taught a course in "The Sociology and Philosophy of Education."  He was on the Ed Faculty, and I a sociology professor.  We had 30 students, mostly Juniors and Seniors--almost all education majors, "Future Teachers," if you will.

We told them the first day of class that everyone would receive an "A" if they wished.  We had carefully planned the course and laid out what we felt were pretty engaging and meaningful assignments and projects.  None of them, however, was "required."  Nothing at all was required.  Not class attendance, not assignments, not tests.  Nothing.  We were going to offer them an opportunity to learn and stretch themselves.  It was totally up to them whether they wanted to participate or not.  In any case, their grade was not on the line.

We hoped, seeing that most of these were aspiring educators, that they would take us up on our challenge.  After all, at that time GCU was a private, not for profit, on-the-expensive-side University. These were "seasoned" college students.  Of course they wanted to learn, right?  Well.... not so much.

The first few weeks class attendance was great, and the interaction dynamic.  "Ah-ha!" we said to each other.  "Our students ARE outstanding!  They want to be here solely for the sake of learning!"

Our jubilation was premature.  Attendance began dropping off.  Fewer and fewer students completed assignments.  By the end of the semester, our average class attendance was down to five (but these students were super-engaged!).

We did send out a notice that we STRONGLY RECOMMENDED and would HIGHLY APPRECIATE everyone's attendance at the last class session.  Almost all the students showed up. During that class period, we had them self-assess.  We handed out our "final exam" with just one question:

"What grade should you be awarded in this class and why?"

The vast majority of them responded, "A.  Because tha'st what you said we'd get, regardless of our performance."

A few responded, "B.  I didn't do most of the work, but I did SOME!"

Those hardest on themselves were those five that had weathered the entire course.

So, was the experiment a failure?

A disappointment, for certain.  But from a sociological perspective, not a failure at all.  We had succeeded in demonstrating that--even with an otherwise highly motivated and talented group of undergraduates--the conditioning of our education system toward reward through grades (not learning) is nigh impossible to erase.  Has our educational system all but obliterated our love of learning?

This, to me, is an extremely sad commentary.  Some may argue that if college courses were "more relevant" then students would be more motivated.  Personally, I doubt it. Others might argue if the delivery were more dynamic, students would learn for its own sake.  Perhaps, but none of our students told us the class was "boring" or "irrelevant."  They were honest in saying that if they didn't HAVE to learn to get a good grade, they would simply "make better use of their time" and study for other classes in which they didn't already have an A.  For them, the choice was strictly utilitarian.

The class probably had a greater impact on us as instructors than it had on the students.  I guess I'm idealistic enough that this experiment didn't totally destroy my desire for students to learn for learning's sake.

How do I deal with this idea of "learning beyond grades" now?  Stay tuned...