Grades are all over the place, but what are they? Well, I guess there are a few questions. What is a grade? What is the grade supposed to be? Why do we give grades?
I think the grade is supposed to be a measure of a students’ understanding of the material. Probably everyone would agree with that description. But, it is still a bit tricky. Who (or what) determines what a student should understand? Who determines what an “A” means? Fortunately, there is not a governing body (yet at least in physics) that says what an “A” grade means. It is left up to the expert evaluations of faculty. I am not saying this is ideal, but what happens when you try to get everyone to formally agree? Standardized tests. These are inherently evil. It is just extremely difficult to make a test that accurately measures the understanding of many students.
Why do we (faculty) give grades? I know some people would say “because we just do – that is the way the university works”. These are the people that just do what has been done before. Others will say “if you don’t give grades, the students won’t work”. Again, this leads to a problem. If students are just going to school to get grades, why don’t we just give them the grades? If grades are the point – let them have grades.
We are supposed to give grades so that we can share our evaluation of the student with other institutions or jobs or parents or whatever. Of course, there is no universality of grades (and I am not pushing for that because it would be disaster). A grade in intro physics at MIT might mean as well as be interpreted differently than the same grade in the same course (with the same course description) at a 2 year community college. Should they be interpreted differently? They should mean the same thing.
Ok, one last thing. What about giving a grade because a student deserves that grade. You know this student worked hard, should the student get at least a B? With my interpretation of a grade, unfortunately the answer would be “no”. I want to be nice, but grades are not about being nice. Grades are about evaluating what a student knows. At the end of the semester, if a student thinks they deserve a higher grade, I am open to that possibility. However, that student would have to clearly demonstrate they understand the material. If the final exam didn’t accurately evaluate the student, maybe the student working a problem on the board can do the trick. Really, if I had the time, I would prefer to just meet with students at the end of the semester and talk about physics. After half an hour, I am sure we (me and the student) could agree on a grade that would represent the student’s level of understanding.