Customer Reviews

Wad-Ja-Get? the Grading Game in American Education

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This is a must read for anyone involved with formal education. I was fortunate enough to have it on my reading list when I was studying for my Ph.D. many years ago and it is every bit as poignant now as it was then. "Grading," as it is still understood and practised by many teachers, can be highly detrimental to real learning and cause a whole agglomeration of problems, yet the process of grading is firmly entrenched in academic culture. "Wad-Ja-Get?" helps to put things to do with "grading" into perspective.

A book about America's grading system--it just doesn't sound like anything that would keep your attention for a long time, right? You'll be proven pleasantly wrong after reading this amazing book. I found myself agreeing with most everything that was said, and let it be mentioned that while the book was published in 1971, the arguments are still completely applicable, and changes still need to be made. While the book is written in a half-corny, half-interesting narration of a class assignment that spins out of control, it really puts the issues in perspective, sometimes in a horrifying light (english paper grades vs. math/science paper grades). I think one of the other statements made in this book that really stuck out was the idea that childhood naturally stifles curiousity--and grades only add to this. It's true, it really is, "grades represent the measure of a person's value" and we as a society do nothing to break this horrible perspective. I really only wish this debate on grades was re-sparked, it's an on-going battle, and very little is being done to solve it.

Rating: 5/5