Discussion: View Thread

In a message dated 97-01-12 14:18:11 EST, you write:

> i would like to offer the idea that
> there is no truly objective way to grade a paper or an exam. even with
> supposedly objective multiple-choice tests, we choose what is
> important-to-know subject matter based on our own opinions and what is a
> correct answer based on our opinions or those of others

IMHO, if we follow the above reasoning, then we need to return to the method
of simply having students attend until they think they are ready to move on.

I have never felt so compelled to respond to a comment. Of course someone
has to decide the essential content of a course and the learning necessary
to proceed. I propose that the student is the last one to know or even to
be expected to know when mastery has been achieved. In a perfect world
where all strive for knowledge and other goals do not interfere this may
be a marginally functional concept.

Is it written somewhere that we are supposed to be 100% objective? I
would contend that is not only not possible but undesirable. Students
look to teachers for guidance and direction toward what is perceived to be
important. A broad exposure to a variety of "experts" with differing view
points can accomplish a general objective view point for the student, but
the student would still need to "master" the essentials of each view point
from the view of the teacher.

Additionally, students become graduates and workers. We fail to prepare
them in any way for the reality of the work place if we send the messages
you imply - proceed at your own pace
- no one will judge you by any but your own standard of
achievement.

*****************************************************************
Kanalis Ockree e-mail: zzockr@acc.wuacc.edu
School of Business fax: 913-231-1063
Washburn University phone: 913-231-1010 X1599
Topeka, KS 66621
*****************************************************************
On Tue, 14 Jan 1997, Gregg Conroy wrote:

> In a message dated 97-01-12 14:18:11 EST, you write:
>
> > i would like to offer the idea that
> > there is no truly objective way to grade a paper or an exam. even with
> > supposedly objective multiple-choice tests, we choose what is
> > important-to-know subject matter based on our own opinions and what is a
> > correct answer based on our opinions or those of others
>
> IMHO, if we follow the above reasoning, then we need to return to the method
> of simply having students attend until they think they are ready to move on.
>

>Additionally, students become graduates and workers. We fail to prepare
>them in any way for the reality of the work place if we send the messages
>you imply - proceed at your own pace
> - no one will judge you by any but your own standard of
> achievement.
i think that it is regrettable that students rarely have a say in the goals
or content of a course, or in an evaulation of their own performance. we
are teachers, not prophets. we have the advantages of some training and
experience, but that does not set us intellectually or morally above our
students. they CAN think, and they should learn to trust their own ideas.
in recent years, we have become accustomed to students evaluating us and our
courses, and yet we don't trust them to evaluate themselves? tell me how
that makes sense. and this continues in further schooling and employment,
as well as in the rest of life, and only serves to undermine self-confidence.

i tell my students that we will come to an agreement on their final grade,
or they will get an incomplete until we do. i say, you're in college now,
and you're old enough to be able to evaluate how you're doing in this
course, as well as in your own life. in the great majority of cases, the
student and i are in exact agreement about a grade. if the student says, i
deserve a higher grade, i say, tell me why. then, i almost always will
raise the grade, either because i'm convinced that the student knows more
than i thought, or because of the student's chutzpah.

to me, it is more important to teach the courage of self-reflexiveness and
the sense of self-esteem than to impose my will on someone over a grade,
where the difference between a C+ and a B- should be a matter of dispute.
are there any management evaluation programs where the opinion of the person
being evaluated is really taken into account?

bev
-----------------------------------
Beverly A. Smith
ABD, Dept. of Sociology
Joint MBA/PhD in Sociology Program
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02167
bev712@worldnet.att.net