Grade Inflation:
In Alfie Kohn’s article, “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation,” Kohn analyzes the complaints of student’s grades rising over the years. During his analysis Kohn looked for data that demonstrated reasons why grades were thought to have been inflated versus the students motivation behind achieving higher grades. Kohn also explains that it is difficult to determine the reasoning behind grade inflation claims. These claims may be false depending on the time period in which the claims were evaluated (Bergmann 261). Kohn showed how he first encountered issues regarding the time period through a study on self-reports. Arthur Levine and Jeanette Curteon’s book “When Hope and Fear Collide” concluded that more undergraduates in …show more content…
of stated that, one of the uncertainties about grades that appear to direct towards the alarming signals of grade inflation is that it motivates students (265). Kohn advises that grade-inflation is a characteristic danger to academics and questions the opinions of instructors universally. He clarifies two forms of motivation: intrinsic motivation, in which students are encouraged to learn the values of the subject matter that is being instilled in them, and extrinsic motivation, in which the students are largely driven by receiving the end reward–to obtain an A in the class or look to passing the class with very little efforts (265). It’s imperative to understand how students are motivated and what makes students want to learn. With this being the basis of Kohn’s thesis I question whether or not grades really have a huge impression on a student’s motivation? Kohn indicated that if we focus on grades, we are luring students into an extrinsic direction regarding learning in a classroom (265). Motivation with respect to studying a particular subject will be revealed by the student’s grades. As a result, the student’s grade will show in his or grade if the student is not motivated by the subject matter. The idea that grades motivate seems to be put in the reverse rather a student being greatly motivated by learning, which would conclude in superior grades. According to Kohn, the more compensation people eceive, the less interested people become in working hard to get to the reward (265). For example, if a student earns A’s in math, and consistently get A’s in his math class, we can presume that this student is excellent in math. We wouldn’t assume that this student is less interested in math because repeatedly we discover that we are more attracted to the things we excel at and less attracted to the skills that we are deficient in. Kohn insists that the overall
In Alfie Kohn’s article, “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation,” Kohn analyzes the complaints of student’s grades rising over the years. During his analysis Kohn looked for data that demonstrated reasons why grades were thought to have been inflated versus the students motivation behind achieving higher grades. Kohn also explains that it is difficult to determine the reasoning behind grade inflation claims. These claims may be false depending on the time period in which the claims were evaluated (Bergmann 261). Kohn showed how he first encountered issues regarding the time period through a study on self-reports. Arthur Levine and Jeanette Curteon’s book “When Hope and Fear Collide” concluded that more undergraduates in …show more content…
of stated that, one of the uncertainties about grades that appear to direct towards the alarming signals of grade inflation is that it motivates students (265). Kohn advises that grade-inflation is a characteristic danger to academics and questions the opinions of instructors universally. He clarifies two forms of motivation: intrinsic motivation, in which students are encouraged to learn the values of the subject matter that is being instilled in them, and extrinsic motivation, in which the students are largely driven by receiving the end reward–to obtain an A in the class or look to passing the class with very little efforts (265). It’s imperative to understand how students are motivated and what makes students want to learn. With this being the basis of Kohn’s thesis I question whether or not grades really have a huge impression on a student’s motivation? Kohn indicated that if we focus on grades, we are luring students into an extrinsic direction regarding learning in a classroom (265). Motivation with respect to studying a particular subject will be revealed by the student’s grades. As a result, the student’s grade will show in his or grade if the student is not motivated by the subject matter. The idea that grades motivate seems to be put in the reverse rather a student being greatly motivated by learning, which would conclude in superior grades. According to Kohn, the more compensation people eceive, the less interested people become in working hard to get to the reward (265). For example, if a student earns A’s in math, and consistently get A’s in his math class, we can presume that this student is excellent in math. We wouldn’t assume that this student is less interested in math because repeatedly we discover that we are more attracted to the things we excel at and less attracted to the skills that we are deficient in. Kohn insists that the overall