| | 8 DECEMBER 2020HIGHERReviewIN MY OPINIONWHY GRADES SHOULD BE A THING OF THE PAST By Lina Ashar, Founder, Kangaroo Kids Preschool & Billabong High International SchoolEvaluation currently plays a key role in the `perception' of the quality of education received by students. So far we have measured the quality of education by the `grades' received by students. The question is, are we evaluating or grading the correct things? If education is supposed to get students ready for the world outside of school and in this world information is ready and `on tap' does it not make sense that if we have to continue to examine our students that we should have `open book' and `open google' exams?Evaluation should offer insights into where students have strength, where they may need assistance, as well as how teachers can improve their instructional approach. Evaluation should help strengthen the core of what we learn and how we learn. The goal of any evaluation system is to provide feedback, but the essence of that feedback needs to be qualitative rather than quantitative; students need to understand how they can improve. Unfortunately, the evaluation system most commonly employed is that which is mostly quantitative.Grades are the `carrots and sticks' of today's education system. Students are expected to slog to memorize learning materials and perform well in tests, which is the general standard of their education. Anyone who has watched Daniel Pink's Ted Talk on motivation knows that this sort of carrot and stick is counterproductive. Students, today, are in a competition to achieve good grades, but this focus on competition has altered the way students learn. Education has become a race and its purpose has changed; students are taught to fit into a mold that is shaped by a predefined meaning of success. So, why do we place our children in learning environments that are dictated by examination systems which encourage students to compete for higher grades?We need to break that mold and the system that promotes such a counter-productive evaluation process. Below are a few reasons why grades are harmful to the education process.· Students who Study for Grades Lose Interest in LearningOwing to the rigid system of examinations, students are forced to study, not to improve themselves and learn more, but to get better test scores and clear examinations. This redundant process of studying to get higher grades often Lina Ashar is an Indian educationist, entrepreneur, and writer based in Mumbai. She is the chairperson of Kangaroo Kids Education Limited (KKEL), an education chain that runs the schools. She is also the founder of Kangaroo Kids International Preschool and Billabong High International School. Lina has received numerous awards for her work. The most notable award she has received is the Lifetime Award for Achievement in Education by Education World in 2014.Lina Ashar, Founder
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