In Grade-Obsessed Society, Learning Gets Left Behind

by Steve Byrd, in the Christian Science Monitor (May 25, 2004)

In an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor, Steve Byrd reflects on American students' anxiety about grades. Byrd, who teaches Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas-Austin, finds the obsession with grades at the end of the semester especially disheartening: "Is this what all their stress is about: a result?" This focus on end results, Byrd argues, threatens to overshadow the learning process and to obscure the ultimate educational goal of "achieving excellence."

In diagnosing our obsession with grades, Byrd suggests that at least some of the problem may be cultural. He cites his experience teaching in Brazil, where "grades were never an issue" and "the focus was on collaborative learning"; American students, with their attention to individual results, hold the "exact opposite" standards. Most troublingly, Byrd finds evidence that the current emphasis on results, in the academy and elsewhere in American society, sometimes costs us our integrity: "Students are observing that everywhere in society, from academics to sports, from business to politics, 'good grades' are of paramount importance—even at the price of dishonesty."

The complete text of Steve Byrd's editorial can be read on the Christian Science Monitor Web site.