Do you agree with the idea that (good) grades/marks encourage students to learn ?

Question

Why yes ?

If no, why not ?

If it's possible, give personal examples.

Answer 1

Yes, I had this guy teacher last quarter who would make all the women feel stupid.  His test answers were like coherent and could range from a possibility of answers.  Then if he went over the tests he would like throw a hissy fit and always insinuated correctness but some people got really stupid and like offered there bodies to him for a grade.  Would you sign up for a class if you felt like an idiot?

Answer 2

It all boils down to what motivates the student. Some are intrinsically motivated and will do well for the satisfaction it gives them without extra rewards. The grade is all they require.

Other students need grades, and the consequences of failing grades, to motivate them. We say they "work well under constant supervision and when trapped like a rat in a cage"

It is the same in the workplace...some work for the satisfaction of accomplishment, and others only work for the paycheck and the consequences of not having a paycheck.

I try to make the grades a competition between the student and themself rather than against the rest of the class. I usually offer a rubric that states exactly what is necessary for each grade desired. For example...on this essay if you want an A.. you must do 1, 2, 3,  4     For a B, you must do 1, 2, 3, seems to work well.

Answer 3

In a way, yes. They encourage students to do what they need to do in order to get the grade. But there's a downside to it: once they've achieved the grade they want, there's not much incentive to keep going. That's the problem with "extrinsic motivation" (i.e. motivation that is imposed from outside of the activity) -- it doesn't create any additional interest in the activity itself, and in fact might even suppress interest at times. In other words, students sometimes do a poor (but barely good enough) job in order to get the grade they want, but it's not a good enough job for them to learn or remember anything.

It's much better for teachers to find something *intrinsically* motivating in schoolwork -- in other words, something that actually interests students in doing it regardless of the grade. We all have moments like that in school, but too few. And in these days of heavy grading and testing, those moments are getting even harder to find.

Good teaching that actually produces long-lasting learning has to balance grades with genuinely interesting activities.

Answer 4

Yes, they can.  However, all students are not motivated by the same thing, so good marks will not work for all students.

Answer 5

i think so, when i was in school getting good grades made me want to try harder on the next thing to see if i could out do myself. if it wasnt for that i dont think i would have ever made it out of high school lol

Answer 6

Not on your life.  Every student has different motivation and not all learn just to get good grades.  I believe those who get straight C's are actually learning something.  But as an example to my theory, look at student athletes who can't read, write, or spell their name.  How do they get through the system?  Good question, but we all know that a star player is going to pass and get a good grade, but learning is not what takes place.

Answer 7

NO..i dunt agree...may be its possible but most probabaly its not that..its the person own ability to learn...

Answer 8

I agree top a point.

As long as the grades are earned by the students and not 'bestowed' on them in spite of their work (or lack thereof), good grades will definitely provide an incentive to get more of them.

Any grading system that rewards a lack of work, though, will demoralize the hard workers and create a false sense of accomplishment for those who aren't really achieving it.