Today, I will be talking about te new grading system at university of Toronto.
I will be talking about the pros and cons about the new grading system and the current grading system.
"The University of Toronto Law wants to make students focus less on marks and more on “intellectual engagement.” (U of T law school adopts new grading system). the current grading system that many other schools have is the letter grade which is leveled A, B, C+, C, C-, F. The the new grading system is the system that does not include letter grades because the U of T law school does not want students to stress on what letter grades they are getting.
The pros about the new grading system is that it may effect the students to not stress out and focus more on the writings, and works they are doing.
"The grouped grading system could be seen as a method of eliminating these worries, saving students from added stress." (No more letter grades at the University of Toronto's law school).
The cons of the new grading system is that it may 'not' help reduce the stress that are troubleing the students. the new grading system can be considered almost the same as the other one, just that the name of the 'letter grades' changed in to high honour, honour, pass, fail...etc.
I, certainly do not think the new grading system will help reduce the stress of students. For many students letter grades are shown as their level of achievment which helps them to study more to get that A+. Also according to the medicine professor Mel Borins
“Students are stressed out mainly around issues of money … whether they’re going to find a job if they do pass all their courses, there’s the stress of family life and their love life, and … the huge workload that sometimes they have to deal with.” (No more letter grades at the University of Toronto's law school) many students does not stress about their grades, they stress out aroud issues of money, their family life, ad love life, and the huge workload.
The Superhero idea, I do not think it will work out very well. First of all it is very childish, and what if the person adores spiderman than superman? Also I would be more stressed if I've got an 'Aquaman' (F) because I would know I've failed and the 'Aquaman' will just annoy me to death.
(A students idea from U of T law school adopts new grading system)
The problem why students may get stress from the 'letter grade' or any sort of grades is because many students compare themselves to others and think they have done terribly, or the parents of theirs will get mad at them for gettng a bad grades. So what I think the school should focus on is teaching them not to compare themselves to others because one is very different from another and has differnt talent, and at least asking the parents not to stress about the mark and flare up to their children.
Online sources:
"U of T law school adopts new grading system"
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2012/04/23/u-of-t-law-school-adopts-new-grading-system/
"No more letter grades at the University of Toronto's law school"
http://cupwire.ca/articles/52673
Great post David
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on this subject. They are not changing the letter grades at all, they are just putting a different name on things. "A" might be substituted by high honours, "B" might become honours.... If students had stress with the letter grades, they will not be more comfortable with the new rankings. I, personally, do not agree with either of these ideas. I believe that students need that small bit of pressure to progress faster and better. Percentages would be my choice if any types of rankings were given. This way, I will actually know exactly the skill level I'm at, because getting an "A" or "High Honours" is a big range, whereas a percentage can accurately describe your level. Getting an 86% "A" has its differences with a 100% "A". What's the point of trying to ignore this fact?
I also really liked how you hyperlinked your reference websites throughout the entire post. This made it easier for me to find out the facts or misunderstandings on this topic.
I enjoyed reading your post. I'm looking forward to reading some of your future posts!
Good post David.
ReplyDeleteI personnally think that trying to get an A is less stressful than trying to get a high honor. You miss spelled and, you wrote ad insead. I liked how you linked the references. Beside the spelling error it was a good posts.
I think this was a great post David! I think this is a great idea considering that even for me trying to get the top marks can be tiring, and stressful at sometimes. So i personally think it's a great idea to switch to this grading method. But i do agree that it might not exactly reduce stress levels considering everything that goes on in a teenager's mind during their high school years. So very well done! If you continue with this kind of work, you'll be great!
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