Competition for high grades seriously limits the quality of learning at all levels of education.
Education, as defined by John Dewey, is a process of learning and gaining knowledge, skills, values and habits. This objective can only be achieved when the focus of students is on the holistic learning process and not confined to high grades. Therefore, the statement that the competition for high grades limits the quality of learning at all education levels holds considerable merit; however, one must not undervalue the role of competition in education.
The primary reason to endorse the statement is the influence of competition based education on the overall learning process. When students know that they must score certain grades to outdo others either to get admission into a top-tier university or a lucrative job, they tend to focus on exams rather than the process of leaning. Gone would be the days of discussions with Mathematics teacher about application of probability theory in sports gambling, with History teacher on overcoming public speaking anxieties and so on. Their only priority would be to learn certain important questions that are most likely to appear in the exams. When they know that they need to memorize from page 1 to 10 from a particular textbook to score an 'A' grade, even the standard syllabus is compromised, forget about out-of-box thinking and experimentation. Some even go to the extent of adopting unfair means such as seeking out leaked exam questions, copying assignments, cheating and what not. A student with an exam-oriented mindset can never achieve the quality of learning required to achieve the very goal of education.
The second reason to support the argument is the psychological damage that the pressure for competing for high-grades inflicts on students. With impossible deadlines to meet, numerous assignments to complete, a giant syllabus to cram and crunch time to prepare for the examination, a student can never obtain the level of motivation and mental freedom to explore the subject. Moreover, this put immense stress on students thus restraining their intellectual and mental abilities. There are several cases when unable to cope with the pressure and competition; students have taken drastic step of suicides. The unabated umber of suicides in the renowned Indian Institutes of Technology in recent years is a glaring example.
Another justification for the statement has do with the comprehensiveness of examination system in covering the entire scope of the subject. A 2-3 hour exam can only test students on certain topics and concepts. If students do score high grades, it can never be an assurance of their complete grasp of the subject and vice versa. Therefore exams and the competition for scoring high grades can never be the prompt for effective and broad learning at any level of education.
However, it would be unfair to completely disregard the role of competition in students’ learning process. Firstly, it motivates students to study at least some selective topics, which they might find useful in their next level of education or career later in life. It also provides a platform to gifted students to distinguish themselves from the ordinary multitude and get deserved accolades and scholarships. Therefore, a pragmatic way for educational institutes is to employ novel assessment pedagogy rather than completely doing away with the idea of competition among peers. Open books test, field projects, technical interviews etc. can be used as evaluation tools for grading students which would ensure that learning is encouraged and not impeded while reaping the rewards of healthy competition
In conclusion, while the competition for high grades does motivate and distinguished meritorious students, it places a ceiling on the learning effectiveness, mainly because of the rudimentary and rigid methods of students’ assessment. Employment of novel appraisal techniques as mentioned above would remove this ceiling without compromising with the benefits of competition at any level of education.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-21 | Himanshu Sharma | 66 | view |
| 2020-01-05 | stevewang1007 | 70 | view |
| 2019-12-11 | deep1212 | 50 | view |
| 2019-11-14 | taeho | 70 | view |
| 2019-11-11 | Hars | 54 | view |
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 734, Rule ID: DT_DT[1]
Message: Maybe you need to remove one determiner so that only 'an' or 'A' is left.
Suggestion: an; A
... 10 from a particular textbook to score an A grade, even the standard syllabus is co...
^^^^
Line 13, column 45, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[1]
Message: Use past participle here: 'done'.
Suggestion: done
...her justification for the statement has do with the comprehensiveness of examinati...
^^
Line 13, column 331, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Therefore,
...te grasp of the subject and vice versa. Therefore exams and the competition for scoring h...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 17, column 104, Rule ID: AFFORD_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the infinitive: 'to process'
Suggestion: to process
... competition in students' learning process. Firstly, it motivates students to stud...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, firstly, however, if, moreover, second, so, therefore, thus, while, at least, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 17.0 19.5258426966 87% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.4196629213 129% => OK
Conjunction : 21.0 14.8657303371 141% => OK
Relative clauses : 12.0 11.3162921348 106% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 33.0505617978 73% => OK
Preposition: 97.0 58.6224719101 165% => OK
Nominalization: 32.0 12.9106741573 248% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3389.0 2235.4752809 152% => OK
No of words: 626.0 442.535393258 141% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.41373801917 5.05705443957 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.00199880112 4.55969084622 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.00861620662 2.79657885939 108% => OK
Unique words: 328.0 215.323595506 152% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.523961661342 0.4932671777 106% => OK
syllable_count: 1057.5 704.065955056 150% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 9.0 6.24550561798 144% => OK
Article: 9.0 4.99550561798 180% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 3.10617977528 161% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.77640449438 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.38483146067 68% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 20.2370786517 128% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 23.0359550562 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 65.9853959995 60.3974514979 109% => OK
Chars per sentence: 130.346153846 118.986275619 110% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.0769230769 23.4991977007 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.34615384615 5.21951772744 83% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 4.97078651685 121% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 7.80617977528 51% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 13.0 10.2758426966 127% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 5.13820224719 136% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.83258426966 124% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.345194506888 0.243740707755 142% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0911892992455 0.0831039109588 110% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.128405458272 0.0758088955206 169% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.213595819763 0.150359130593 142% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.1207863839 0.0667264976115 181% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 16.1 14.1392134831 114% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 38.66 48.8420337079 79% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.92365168539 141% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.1743820225 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.39 12.1639044944 118% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.57 8.38706741573 114% => OK
difficult_words: 188.0 100.480337079 187% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 11.8971910112 97% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.2143820225 103% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.7820224719 102% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 83.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 5.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.