Studying in the US: High Marks Just for Trying?

Posted by thanhlt

March 1, 2010

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This
week in our Foreign Student Series, we continue our discussion about grades.

Would you want a doctor who got high marks in medical
school just for trying really, really hard? Apparently many college students
would have no problem with that. They believe students are owed a good grade
simply because they put a lot of effort into a class. Or at least that is what they
told researchers last year at the University of California, Irvine.

Do students deserve good grades just for studying hard?

The
researchers asked more than eight hundred undergraduates if they agreed or
disagreed with some statements. For example: “If I have completed most of
the reading for a class, I deserve a B in that course.” And: “A
professor should not be annoyed with me if I receive an important call during
class.”

Just
sixteen percent thought it was OK to take that phone call. But sixty-six
percent agreed that a professor should consider effort and not just the quality
of a student’s work when deciding grades. And forty percent thought they should
get a B, the second highest mark, just because they did most of the reading for
class.

The
findings appeared in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The students were
ages eighteen to twenty-five.

Some
experts are not surprised that students often see no difference between effort
and results. Social critics like to say that in children’s activities these
days, everyone gets an award just for trying, so no one will feel rejected. Or
so it may seem.

Yet
competition to get into the best colleges is fiercer than ever. Students may worry
that low grades will keep them out of graduate school or a good job.

And
there may be another explanation: pressure from parents to get a good return on
the family’s investment. These days, college can cost more than a house.

A former teaching assistant recently wrote to the New
York Times about his experience with grade expectations. He would try to
explain it this way when students asked for a top grade just for studying hard in
chemistry class:

What
if a baseball player came to spring training and worked harder than all the
others, but still could not play well. Would the team accept him anyway, just
because he tried so hard?

The students would say no. But most of them would still
ask for an A.

And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report,
written by Nancy Steinbach. Tell us what you think about grades, and read what
others have to say, at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series.
I’m Steve Ember.