Based on the websites we could explore, the educational philosophy that interested me the most was that of Evergreen State University(www.evergreen.edu). This college has several major differences from John Brown University. Ok, that may be an understatement. In fact, Evergreen is very, very different from JBU. “Imagine exploring psychology, environmental studies, math, history and economics and how they all interrelate,” said their website. This occurs because Evergreen students take one class or “program” at a time per quarter, collaboratively taught by two, three, or four professors. At the end of a program, the students don’t get a letter grade; they receive a narrative-style report or evaluation from their teacher, as well as writing a detailed evaluation of themselves and the professors. The aim of Evergreen is still very much the same as JBU’s: to educate students. But the methods Evergreen uses to accomplish these goals are much different.
Although I have not been overly focused on grades throughout high school and my first dose of college, getting my mid-term and final grades and seeing if the desired combination of letters (preferably A’s!!) are present has been a significant part of my educational process up to this point. I wonder what school would be like without some sort of letter/number combination assigned to the work I completed? I’m not sure I would completely like it. But then again, it would provide so much freedom from basing my performance on those numbers and letters. I wouldn’t be able to focus on those things, which would automatically make it either so a) I don’t care or b) I would focus on actually learning not just on getting grades. I am sure the second is the goal Evergreen wants, but I see the possibility for the former to happen with some students.
During high school, mom and I would meet at least once a week to look at the progress I had made towards accomplishing my academic work and record what actually got accomplished in the grade book. We also talked about the schedule for the week ahead and made any necessary changes. We called this process “Teacher Meetings.” Many times we also took time to laugh, cry, and debrief about the week during this our teacher meeting. Teacher meetings became a very important part of what ‘homeschooling’ was to me. In some ways, this concept is what Evergreen is striving for with their written evaluations .They are stressing the relationship between teacher and student (which I definitely had with my mom), as well as achieving overall learning objectives as opposed to earning a quantifiable grade. (…which also is what we ended up focusing on more in homeschooling. I wasn’t focused on getting a certain score; we spent time on the subject until I had mastered it and then moved on.)
A learning environment focused on learning seems like a novel idea right? If we focused on grades, such a place would be called a grading environment. So why do I, and many, many other students, focus so much on grades here at JBU??? More than any letter grade I’ve received, I really appreciate the verbal and written feedback I have gotten from people such as my Gateway professor or my honors mentor, Esther Carey, on assignments here at JBU. I love written comments so much! They have the ability to make my day 100 times better if they are positive, and to help me learn how to do things better if those comments are correctional. After all, college is supposed to be a place where we learn. In this sense, I really appreciate what Evergreen is doing. I think I would do well there as a student, because I do like to learn and the relational, collaborative learning would be effective for my learning styles and capabilities. I don’t think that JBU should become exactly like Evergreen. But Evergreen does have some interesting and revolutionary ideas (such as more written feedback/less emphasis on letter grades) that could be implemented with some success at JBU, to help students and teachers put the emphasis back on learning. 
Knowing you well, I am confident that you would excel in a system such as Evergreen's. And I know many other students that would as well. However, results of a study referred to in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education appear to indicate that, on the average, performance of students would decline under such a system. The study looked at MBA programs that do not assign grades to students. The hope is that, by not assigning grades, the students will be more focused on learning and less focused on grades. The results, however, indicate that students in such programs study much less and learn much less than students in programs that issue grades.
ReplyDeleteGrades can be a powerful motivator, helping to focus the attention of students on the learning process. Think of what Teen Bible Quiz would be like without any meets. Competition motivates some people. Thus, while I am sure you would do well in a non-grade system, I am confident that the average person would not.
That's really interesting! I can see how many students would be less motivated. I guess the issue is that students need something to motivate them. In the absence of grades as a motivator, I know that I would do fine, but even then it would depend on how the system was executed. I would just find something else to motivate me. But, if the system allowed me to get away with studying and learning less, I would, over time, most likely become much less motivated.
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