SO, I thought I could suppress some of my thoughts and beliefs about grades in education. But, as I always say, "belief is the silent side of action," except in my case, silence is not one of my virtues. So, I slipped. My rage against grades cannot be stifled. I try often and fail every time.

Rage, as a word, scares people. It's not a light word. The word does not hint at its definition, it is its definition. Similar to "disruption," we'll talk about that word later. People hear the word and immediately there is a defensive reaction, conscious or not. I like the word for these reasons. But I've also become more aware of my responsibility with words and the reaction of others. I have to be, if I want to be part of the leadership of my school community. As a member of the followership, that may not be as important. But for leaders, understanding and reflecting on the power of language is critical.

Thomas Sergiovanni, professor of Education at Trinity (San Antonio, TX) hinted that unpacking "rage" was a useful tool for educational leaders. He implies that, rage is the manifestation of a reasonable person's values being compromised. So, instead of reeling against the rage of teachers, school administrators could see rage as a concrete example of a teacher's core values being disrupted. An effective, thoughtful teacher that communicates rage, should be heard.

Here goes...

Grades are the single most destructive force in education. Grades have zero connection to learning. There is no correlation between the arbitrary alpha-numeric system and an individual's authentic learning. I know too many honor's students and graduates of Ivy leagues, that are dumb as stumps. This destructive and disruptive force is most apparent in the culture that believes grades equal intelligence. They do not. Grades will never do this. Grades cannot do this. There are a lot of intelligent people that get good grades. And the exact opposite of that is true as well. Grades indicate one thing, they reflect how well a student plays the game of school. That's it.

Think about it this way. I play guitar, and my new love, the ukulele. I have played guitar since the 4th grade (30 plus years experience). I've played in bands, I've made money playing guitar. I play everyday. I write original songs. People, who don't know me or know that I wrote these songs, enjoy these songs. In other words, plenty of objective validation. However, I can't play "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band" to save my life. I can't earn the points necessary to advance to any level in these games. I argue that school is like that game. And grades are nothing more than virtual points applied to an unreal, or as Umberto Eco likes to call it, "Hyper-real" environment, we call it school. An average classroom functions this way. An above average classroom offers our students more than grades.

Here's another way to think about grades as an absurd "hyper-reality"...

There's a reason way coaches do not call a game. That's what referees are for, they call the game. I believe that grades are a travesty to learning because a teacher cannot be a guide and a gatekeeper at the same time. If my job as an English teacher (17 years and counting) is to make my students better readers and better writers (and as a result or as a prereq.) better thinkers/communicators, then my focus should be on guiding my students. We need to invite external, objective gatekeepers into our schools and classrooms (or send our students out). They already exist in every industry and every community. If our students are better writers, let them write for the local newspapers (online versions, of course). If our students are better readers let them extract the nuance of a legal document with a local law firm. That's an appropriate indicator of learning.

How would you teach, if grades did not exist?

What would you teach, if grades did not exist?

Why would you teach, if grades did not exist?