Grades and Students: Psychological Effects of Grades on Students

Thursday January 29, 2015

So many researches and studies are going on about the relevance of our gradation system in schools. There had been various discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of gradation system in schools. This is a very important area that is to be studied seriously. Whether to stop or to continue this gradation system is an ongoing debate for the last few years.

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What is the purpose of gradation system?

The main function of the grades is to inform the parents, guardians and others how the student is performing in studies. This is to be done with at most attention and care and without any prejudice or partiality. It is a very private thing; unfortunately, it is done in a very public way.

Advantages of gradation at school level:

Helps in self improvement to some extent
Enables students to fix a target and to work hard to attain it.
Makes the parents aware of the performance and standard of their children at school. That helps the parents to give necessary attention for them.
Makes students more objective.
Gives students competition spirit.

Disadvantages of gradation at school:

It is incomplete. It is not possible to asses all the learning and skills of all students using the same scale. Some skills cannot be measured.
It creates inequality among students.
To get higher grades, some students choose tasks much below their capacity. They won’t dare to be creative or innovative in their assignments.
It de-motivates students.
Those who get higher grades may feel proud and tend to deviate from studies.

How gradation psychologically affects students?

Our present gradation system announces the quantified results in the public. It really affects student’s psyche. Receiving a lower grade and everyone knowing about it, is really matter of shame. No one would like to show the low grades they received to others. If they are getting low grades continuously, they may feel that they are out of track and sometimes, they may quit education.

The low grades students receive in schools make them feel inferior to their classmates and that make them depressed. A division is created between the students who obtain higher grades and lower grades and an attitude of superiority and inferiority gets developed in them.

In the fear of getting lower grades, the students who obtain higher grade won’t take risky or innovative tasks and choose simple tasks, much below their caliber. This keeps them away from learning or experimenting new things. Actually, it makes them cowards.

The comparisons made by parents and teachers about the grades students got will affect them badly. It can even make them detached from the society.

How to solve this issue?

It is not possible to stop gradation in all levels. But the educators must understand that all results cannot be quantified and all learning cannot be assessed. They must inform the parents about the child’s performance, thereby, making the parents a part of this assessment or grading, as well. They are also responsible for the success or failure of the student.

Give them a qualitative feedback than a quantitative report card. Make it a weekly activity if possible. Let the parents also take part in these feedback sessions as far as possible. This can be done easily with Parent Portal.

Parent Portal

Edsys provides Parent Portal which makes parent-teacher communication an easy task. Every day, the teacher can inform the parents about the performance of the student. No need to wait for months or terms. So, the parents can guide or help the child to improve. It will be far effective than punishing after a terminal evaluation. Parents can also give their feedback though the Parent Portal.

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The parents can always have an eye on the students’ activities at schools using the Smart Cards for schools. It helps them to track their attendance in class and school bus. It helps the parents to know about the books they borrow from the library, the time they spend there, the purchases they make from the school store etc.

A proper intervention of parents at the proper time can reduce the shock given by the low grades. Nowadays, we have so many ways to do that. Parent Portal, School Apps, Smart Cards etc. are very useful for this purpose.