Critique on “a Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System.”

Critique on “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System.”

In his article “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” Jerry Farber argues that the grading system focuses our attention on the test and therefore grades do not facilitate academic learning. Farber offers blunt criticism to the grading system and he suggests alternatives to the system. Although I strongly agree with Farber that the grading system may fall short of facilitating maximum learning and that there may be alternatives to the system that may better serve students, his argument against the grading system is not convincing and restricted by his board unfair acknowledgment towards opposing views that outlines the lack of logically supporting his claims and his sarcastic tone.

Farber opens his argument with the position that states grades only focus our attention on the test itself. He suggests that students only push themselves to learn as far as the test and what they learn is irrelevant after they’ve taken the test. Farber then discusses that learning is the purpose that happens when you want to know. He discusses how we didn’t need grades to learn to walk or talk, and if grades are what drive us to do something then we may never really learn. Farber also points out that “just because you pass a subject doesn’t mean you’ve learned it.” (385) He explains that if you want to learn something you will learn it regardless of grades. Finally, Farber mentions that the purpose of the grading system is to give self-discipline and to evaluate people. He argues that self-discipline is given when you please yourself and grades will not give you gratification. Farber argues that it is necessary to evaluate people but feels that there are better alternatives to achieve this. He mentions a few alternatives, such as bar exams, on the job supervisions and apprenticeships and he states that to “eliminate grades entirely would require too sudden a shift in out society,” (387) and advocates a...