Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Should I Give Grades?
It is often difficult to avoid the issue of grades, whether they are a mark out of 20, a percentage, or the good old A, B, C... Some children seem to thrive on them, even those who have never been to school.
A teacher friend of mine, who disliked giving grades, found herself one day with students demanding grades for their projects. After some persuasion she caved in - and gave them all A's! She remembered to write lots of meaningful comments and feedback, so the grades weren't issued in isolation. But the kids weren't exactly happy!
The children were looking for something they could compare themselves to - each other! Sue's strategy foiled their budding competitiveness, but it didn't satisfy their need for internal comparison and self competitiveness, the drive to improve their work. Some of the students saw grading as a good way of 'rating' their work and performance. And all of them needed some kind of confirmation they were at a reasonable level with age related peers in other classes. A sense of being 'normal'.
Next time Sue graded the assignments on the merits of the work done, using a set of
predetermined criteria the children were familiar with before the work was begun. She took into
account each child's developmental abilities, strengths, weaknesses and learning style when
making comments and giving feedback.
Grades can work in this way, as a 'rank' the individual student uses to assess his or her
performance against - on individual pieces of work. It doesn't stop the children from being
competitive - kids always find a way to do this. It is part of normal development, and so long as
it doesn't develop into bullying or victimisation it is fine. But any competitive behaviour can be
countered by impressing on the children the real meaning of the grade. Just as in the world of
athletics, grades are a measuring tool for measuring your own performance by, and for
determining and bettering your own personal best. It is easy to tell children that everyone
progresses down similar paths but at different times and stages - all children excel at something -
and all of them excel at different things. Give a few good examples and they quickly get the drift.
If a child gets downcast at his or her 'grades' make sure you grade those things he or she does
really well - these may not be in the traditional school subject areas - get creative with
educational jargon if you have to. As a home educator your aim is always to build self esteem
first - academic ability second!
I have commonly found children around eight to ten years seem to need something like grades
to bounce their identity building off. Better at home than at school! In our home we don't grade,
but occasionally if the children do a 'test' for spelling or maths they like to work out the
percentage they got correct. The children initiate this, and it is one of the only times we get to
work with percentages so I don't mind. As April is at school she gets graded all the time, out of
twenty, and this is converted to the alphabetical grade. It was fun converting all sorts of scores to
percentages to find the alphabetical grade! We then discussed how the alphabetical grade has
changed since Robin and I were at school, where the 'fail point' falls, what it all means, and why
grades are used at all. We even looked into IQs. Anything can be a jumping off point for a lot of
learning.
It is useful to view all experiences in a positive way, seeing the benefits rather than the negative
effects. And to view all experiences as home educating experiences! This helps to take the dread
and worry out of life! Grades can be meaningful and fun, but not if they are overdone. A bit like
everything else!
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
