I remember in my 10th grade after a particularly difficult mathematics exam, almost all of the class had flunked the test. I happened to top that test, and had scored 86/90. I remember being smug about it in front of my parents until my father asked, “why did you lose these four marks?” I was shocked. And this came from someone who rarely cared about marks. Somehow, irrespective of what we consciously choose to believe about marks and their value, subconsciously and intuitively - we all measure our worth and potential success using them. The importance given to a faulty metric like marks scored in examination will always be a a polarizing issue. Enough people know that standardized tests are unreliable indicator of the traits that they are deigned to evaluate - intelligence, learning or application of knowledge. But still a majority of us care deeply about marks. In an educational system that is built around scoring marks, and not learning - nobody benefits.
Much ado about marks
Much ado about marks
Much ado about marks
I remember in my 10th grade after a particularly difficult mathematics exam, almost all of the class had flunked the test. I happened to top that test, and had scored 86/90. I remember being smug about it in front of my parents until my father asked, “why did you lose these four marks?” I was shocked. And this came from someone who rarely cared about marks. Somehow, irrespective of what we consciously choose to believe about marks and their value, subconsciously and intuitively - we all measure our worth and potential success using them. The importance given to a faulty metric like marks scored in examination will always be a a polarizing issue. Enough people know that standardized tests are unreliable indicator of the traits that they are deigned to evaluate - intelligence, learning or application of knowledge. But still a majority of us care deeply about marks. In an educational system that is built around scoring marks, and not learning - nobody benefits.