Summary Of From Degrading To De-Grading By Alfie Kohn

There are a lot of on-going debates about the traditional grading system. Many argue that the system deters learning therefore; it should be overhauled and/or reformed. Alfie Kohn, an American author and educator that speaks and writes about education and parenting is very much opposed to the traditional grading system. In his essay “From Degrading to De-Grading”, Alfie Kohn argues against it, he claim that students are so grade driven that it reduces their interest in learning, creativity and preference for challenging tasks. Not only that, it also encourages cheating, disrupt curriculum and waste teachers’ time. Rather than using the current grading system, he advocate for a more student-teacher feedback and collaboration system. While Kohn presents a sound argument with personal facts and reputable resources to back up his claims, his use of fallacies weakens his argument. …show more content…
By citing all the different resources he is able to prove that he had done a great deal of research on the subject matter and he is very knowledgeable about it. His choice of phrase“… one of the best-researched finding…” (238) surely adds to his credibility. He also uses some of his other works/studies to back his claims, this further show that he has a deeply rooted interest and first-hand experience with the issues. As much as this strengthens his narrative, it also weaken his argument because, using his own work introduces bias in his argument. We already know he is against the traditional grading study so of course the use of his work will be to prove and not disprove the claim. All the works cited are in support of his argument no