The dilemma of grades

As spring 2012 rolls in with 40 new faces on my CourseWorks student roster, the blue books from fall 2011 still sit on my desk, reminding me of the intense and dreadful week of grading before Christmas. I look forward to meeting another group of brilliant young minds, but I am also dreading the unavoidable question: “How do I get an A in this course?”

Please don’t get me wrong. It really is great to hear that everyone wants to excel and get an A! But, unfortunately, not everyone can ace my course. In fact, the average grade for most courses at Columbia is B or B+, which by definition indicates a solid understanding of the course material. The grading system is not perfect, and neither are the exams. But I think there are some merits to this system. For me, the purpose of assigning grades to work is to promote diligence and raise alarms when someone is off track. I think most professors want students to do well in their classes. But more importantly, we want to share our knowledge and enthusiasm with the students, to stimulate new ideas, and to prepare them for the uncertain future with something useful.

But here is the dilemma: If we were to give everyone A’s, then I’m afraid very few students would actually receive the highly-priced college education they came here for. And here is why: Without the pressure of grades, it is all too easy for the mind to wander in class and for the knowledge to slip by you without leaving much impact in your life. I had to learn this myself.

When I was in college in China, we didn’t have websites like Yelp or CULPA. But gossip did go around. We figured out that a few professors were very lenient, and as long as you showed up and turned in a report you would probably get an A. I took a few of them to fulfill my college credit requirement. Ask me now, what did I learn from them? I remember nothing. It’s strange to think that hours of lectures by renowned professors from one of the best universities made absolutely no difference in my life, all because I was too relaxed to learn.

So what DO I remember from college? To tell you the truth, my most vivid memories are the times when I answered questions wrong in class, which was quite often; and secondly, from a few assignments and exams for which I worked really hard to get a good grade.

I am certain that students today, especially at Columbia, are more driven than I was. But, from time to time, I see my old self in them when someone starts playing games in the back of the lecture hall, knowing that the lecture will be available on podcast—or, when someone writes a diary entry on the homework, because he or she doesn’t think I will grade it. Thus, as much as I hate grading, I will have to continue to use grades, to encourage and to alert.

Having just praised the grade-based educational system, I have to admit that grades are over-emphasized in today’s society. A math professor friend, who recently decided to become a Wall Street banker, told me that a company that interviewed him asked for his high school transcript. As ridiculous as this story sounds, this grade mania is invading and polluting our classrooms, so much so that the most important question becomes, “Is this going to be on the exam?”

So here comes my second dilemma about grades: Being able to show your achievement in coursework is important, but that should not be the only measure of your success at Columbia.
I feel that student life is way too precious to be wasted in doing everything according to the book (or the professor). Within the scope of a solid college education, why not test your own hypotheses, debate about your own opinions, or find something new to challenge yourself? The best part is that you are in good company. If you happen to fail the first time around, you will be backed by an amazing group of people, some of whom might have made the same mistakes as you. They will be able to show you how to do things better next time around. After all, the faculty is what makes Columbia great. They are professionals at asking questions and struggling for answers. So why waste this golden opportunity by only asking how to get an A in the course?

I hope these same inner voices are what really motivate the students today, and I hope that this semester I will get more questions like “Why isn’t the universe shrinking?” or “Why can’t we store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain?” Because in the end, curiosity and critical thinking are what matter when you face the challenges of the future, not the ability to squeeze the last point out of each assignment and test.

The author is a lecturer in discipline for Frontiers of Science and a postdoctoral research scientist at the department of earth and environmental sciences.