NINPARNICH 1

Fariya Ninparnich

Ms. Orana Meenongwha

English 10/10:05

May 25, 2017

Effects of Grade on Students

Introduction

Grading system used to level each student by their performance in academic. The

grading is show in form of score or GPA which will be used to compare with other people.

Some people might think that grade is just a normal score that teachers give to us and they

might not care much about it but some might not think like that, they think that it his or her

whole world, it everything in their life so they will always want to get the good grade or the

best that it could be so grade might be a good motivation for all the student to try their best to

get a good grade and to help them to set their goal or plan in their life because everyone who

goes to school or university wants to earn a good grade and graduate with the highest score

that they could earn because they think that if they have a good grade so they can have a

better life and better job in the future. This cause them to do everything to get the highest

grade and dont care about right or wrong. This is why there are more than 75 percent of

student who cheat during test of exam. This made the student have a bad habit of cheating.

Also more than half of the student copy each other homework because there is not enough

time to do all of it and if the assignment is not finish they will get score deducted or zero

instead.

As the school use grading system to compare level of the student so it force to the

student to try their best to complete with their friends. This create the competition within the
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student. Student have to take extra class to get higher score at school. So the student need to

understand that this grade is not use to compare with other but it only for each student to

know their level. So this will show you the three effect of grading on student.

Poor Classroom Environment

Classroom is a place where student come and study and get as much as knowledge as

they could so the classroom environment is the most important factor that affect student

learner but it was effect by grading system. Positive classroom environment can help the

student to understand and focus on the lesson better. According to book name

Encouragement in the Classroom by Joan Young said that positive classroom environment

is the classroom which students feel free to ask question, feel that they are belong to the class,

trust others, feel challenging, and ready to take risks. A problems from home, lack of

motivation on learning and, pressures from testing are some factors that effect on the

classroom environment. And the biggest problem that destroy the positive environment of

classroom is the way people communicate with each other. Grade is the most important thing

in the school so everyone try to complete one other which make the classroom is not a

classroom anymore but it seem like a place for competition. Student need to take extra class

just to get perfect score in school which mean they are learning the new things at tutoring

class and learn nothing from school. In fact, the school should be a place where student learn

the new thing and main information or knowledge should get from school not tutoring

because tutoring should be a place where they get practice or only for someone who really

need help. This environment force student to take the extra class because the student who

have bad performance of low credit will be underestimated from other student who get higher

score. From the Education Department of Guangdong said in a report that over 30% of
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students from primary through high school take extra classes on weekends and nearly 50%

enroll in classes during winter and summer vacations. Most of the after-school classes focus

on entrance exam subjects for higher education and teacher also suggest the student to take

extra class after school. So about 80% of high school students and 75% of secondary school

students believe that they need to take extra classes and for primary students, the percentage

is even higher, it about more than 85% of these schoolchildren think they need to take extra

class. So grading on student is effect on the class room environment which force all the

student to complete on each other.

Wrong Motivation

Grading system make the student have a wrong motivation which forms the bad habit

to a student. This grading system forms a motivation which the student needed to do

everything to get a perfect score, even though the action is right or wrong. The research of

McCabe in 2015 is one of the evident. In this research report that from 24,000 students at 70

different high schools found out that 64% of students were cheating on a test, 58% plagiarism

and 95% are participated in some form of cheating, whether it was on a test, plagiarism or

copying the homework. This large-scale cheating student was increasing over time. The

students think that it easy to cheat because if they can cheat and no one knows or did not get

caught then the reward of this cheating is getting A in the class. After getting A then they will

be able to study in the best university, graduate with the perfect score, and get a good job with

the high salary so it a good reason to take a risk. This lead to dishonest behavior in the society

because the cheating is not only finished at school but these people are still doing it over and

over again in their job or their life. There are many reasons for this behavior such as see

people cheating and get succeed in their life so they follow them and some have a short term
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goal like getting a gift for a good exam score. But the importance factor that forces people to

cheat is the culture and belief. Students are taught to believe that a good student needs to get

a good score and the one who got the highest score is the best. This culture put the pressure

on each student which force them to more likely to cheating to be the best. Some other reason

might be high standard teaching and high standard grading. Sometimes the learning

contended is beyond the level of the student which it is too hard for the student to understand

all of them. Also the high grading system is when the teacher expects too much or too high

from the student which the expectation is higher than what the student can do or too much

than the level of the student. As there is much pressure that forces the student to get higher

grade. This pressure might come from culture, society, family, friends, or even from the

teacher. So, it forces the student that they must get a good grade, in fact, best way that they

can think of which will help them to get good score is by cheating.

Stress and Depression

The third area that effect by grade is adolescent stress and depression. Grade system

creates a stress and depression on every student. Research of Walker (2005) reported that 39

percent suffer from mild to severe depression and they often rely on passive or negative

behaviors to deal with problems. People said that the best time in life is in high school

because at this time they have lots of friends, good memory at school. But this is only half of

the picture, in fact, the high school is the most happiness and sadness. They happy about life,

innocent life, dont have to think about making money or take care of anyone, the only thing

they think of is to play and have fun with friends. But the sadness part is making a good grade

for admit in university. This period of time is the time that life changes the most, so

adolescent are more likely to have stress or depression. The grading system is the main thing
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that creates stress on the student but it also comes along with other problems. Because the life

of the teenager has two important place which is school and home. So the common problems

that found in many of the students are mostly about family or friends such as break up with

the boyfriend or girlfriend, arguments with family or friends, and serious illness or injury of

the family member. When these combined with the grading system, it makes the student

worried more about grade which is having stress in a short term. Which mean they will worry

about it for a while, and when the problem is solved they will get rid of it. But, there are some

people who have depression or a long term of worried or unhappy life. When grading system

combined with personal problems can create a stress or depression on the student, and

prevent this problem, friends and family need to show their support and love.

Conclusion

The grading system is one main factor that effect on student. It create competition

within the class, force the student to try to complete on other and force them to take extra

class, also it create motivation for the student which is forcing them to cheat during the exam

and copy homework or assignment, and it is the main reason that cause stress or depression in

student. All this problem can be solve by loving of people, parents and friends need to show

their love to the student and stay beside them so that they will not feel lonely. This problems

was caused because many people did not understand the main reason of grading system, the

only thing they knew is it use to level the knowledge of student but it is not only that, grading

system is also use to check how much the student understand the subject and which part the

teacher need to help the student improve their skill. Also to tell the student which part they

need to improve to get the most benefit of coming to school. Student need to understand that

they come to school to gain more knowledge and to find more experience. But nowadays,

student come to school just to earn a good score and wait for the time to pass and then they
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will be able to go home. Or some people just come to school to have fun and do nothing. This

are some area that harm student by grading systems. As you can see, it all the student do like

this, then they will learn nothing from school and it was the waste of time to come to school.

So everyone need to put their hand in to help the education system to get better for the most

benefit of the student that will become good adult in the future.
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References

Andrew Miller (23 November 2015) When Grading Harms Student Learning Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/when-grading-harms-student-learning-andrew-miller

Cassie Lin & Louis Berney (12 November 2015) Nearly 50% of Students Take Extra Classes

During Vacations Retrieved from

http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_981/node_989/node_997/node_1007/2015/11/

12/1447305916173218.shtml

Chris Loschiavo (19 May 2015) Why do students cheat? Listen to this deans words

Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/why-do-students-cheat-listen-to-this-

deans-words-40295

Joan Young (n.d.) Encouragement in the Classroom Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/sf114049/chapters/The-Importance-of-a-

Positive-Classroom.aspx

Joyce Walker (2005) Adolescent Stress and Depression Retrieved from

http://www.extension.umn.edu/youth/research/youth-issues/adolescent-stress-and

depression/
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Appendix