Wrong objectives in education?

[dimpy.handa]

It could be argued that, being grades a reflection of knowledge, this is quite normal under the assumption "the more you know the better your life will be". This is, unfortunately, not the case.

Firstly, and I think this is a very common situation, students are in a certain way exploiting their school system to get higher grades. Cheating, copying and generally taking "alternative paths" are all alternative paths a student can follow to achieve a good grade without having in reality fulfilled the requirements necessary to obtain it in an honest way.

Secondly because the relationship between "knowledge" and "quality of life" is completely artificial. It is true that "the more you know, the better", but this quote applies in the long run and on general bases! Using logic, one would come to think that a "D" in a Math test won't have serious consequences on the life of the student, provided he studies enough to make it up... how is it then possible that that very "D" makes his future holidays completely miserable? Simple, parents or guardians too often give enough importance to grades to base their child's free time on them!


I think you can now see one as being the consequence of the other. Elders give a lot of importance to grades, forgetting however that grades are merely a result, and sometimes a corrupted result. They don't remember that there is more to knowledge and personal growth than a set of letters ranged A to F.

The students, on their part, seeing their personal life and entertainment put at risk by their possible inability to deal with certain subjects, yet not willing to pay the (in their opinion) unjust consequences of this, choose to cheat their way to good grades.


In the end what we obtain is a "corrupt ball game"

 

[swatiraohnlu]

In some places, getting a job after graduation is based on the Grades you've scored. The higher you CGPA(Cumulative Grade Point Average), the greater your chances of getting a job. The result is, in order to increase their chances of getting good jobs, students value the grades over the knowledge. In some other places, they extract the knowledge from you, assess it, before giving you the job, whatever your grade, certifcates and others.

 

[dimpy.handa]

I would go as far as to think the grade system corrupts and perverts the educational system. It is a flawed measurement system ; what does it measure? Knowledge? Talent? Natural abilities? Intelligence? What it truly measures is difficult to say, considering it is measurements based on punctual or continuous tests which are themselves limited to specific knowledge and skills ; these tests invoke many abilities, as said earlier : memory (you need to learn your lesson), understanding (you need to understand your lesson), intuition (you need it to use your knowledge), practical skills (you must have practiced), speed (you need to be fast to finish the test), etc. As thus, these measurements end up very abstract, and also depend on external factors : which school you are in, who's correcting, etc. How can this system be considered objective, accurate, useful?