Learning can not be Graded
Grading is a school thing, meant to compartmentalize and measure only regurgitation, not comprehension or true understanding of a concept. Grades are also used to as a tool by which to evaluate the teacher. Grading relies upon standardized output, not the value of input. It's an arbitrary practice with a superficial foundation producing superficiality.
You may have noticed that when I offer advice to home educating families, even insofar as recommendations for materials, I do
not recommend “grade levels”. This is because when we learn without school intervention, we do not need grading and I strongly recommend that we dissociate ourselves from this fabricated need.
Grades are something invented and used by the school system to measure, not the intellect of a child, but their ability to absorb and regurgitate data. Very often the information, once successfully purged for the test, is not cemented and rarely recalled to be used later. Any data that is stored usually lacks cohesiveness and the significance of relationships between concepts are never appreciated or even recognized. However, learning is not about receiving a reward, it is a constant and perpetual experience that can not really be measured because the experience is personal and different for each individual.
Furthermore, grades are often associated with age as in 1st grade, 2nd grade etc. This further categorizes human beings perpetuating the paradigm of age segregation. Older children begin to assume (unjustified) intellectual (as well as physical) superiority to younger children making the latter feel subordinate. It is no wonder that freshman in high school have a hard time. Grading is a blatant exercise in social engineering.
Grades are something invented and used by the school system to measure, not the intellect of a child, but their ability to absorb and regurgitate data. Very often the information, once successfully purged for the test, is not cemented and rarely recalled to be used later. Any data that is stored usually lacks cohesiveness and the significance of relationships between concepts are never appreciated or even recognized. However, learning is not about receiving a reward, it is a constant and perpetual experience that can not really be measured because the experience is personal and different for each individual.
Furthermore, grades are often associated with age as in 1st grade, 2nd grade etc. This further categorizes human beings perpetuating the paradigm of age segregation. Older children begin to assume (unjustified) intellectual (as well as physical) superiority to younger children making the latter feel subordinate. It is no wonder that freshman in high school have a hard time. Grading is a blatant exercise in social engineering.
Instead of grading, open yourself and your family up to allow wealthy and varied treasure of ideas for teaching and discovery to continuously learn about the
world in a variety of different ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Discussion Welcomed. SPAMMERS will be blocked!