See in the school system we are given grades that are supposed to represent our knowledge in a certain subject.
I assume this is explicit institutional policy, not just supposition on your part. My philosophy for assigning grades is that they are an evaluation of how you perform certain tasks which require certain knowledge. It is part of an overall requirement for the student to demonstrate sustained knowledge of the topic (so that “cramming” does not help). It means that you must demonstrate the knowledge which is the focus of the course at all times (incrementally, of course), and not just at one brief moment.
There is a very practical reason homeworks are required: doing the homeworks imparts the necessary skills required to do the exam. In Norway, college courses are graded on the basis of an exam and not homeworks, and doing homework is not the norm (they are purely optional). I taught there for a year, and there is no question that the students’ exam performance was directly correlated with whether they did the homework assignments. Very simply, doing the homework prepares you for the exam.
Perhaps a more individually tailored approach to instruction would be more useful for you, and if you can persuade your parents to put you in a private school with a lower student/teacher ratio you might be better off. The practice of structuring classes designed around what works best for most students ignores the special needs of the student who is a degree or two off bubble one way or the other. That is in the nature of mass education – if you don’t want mass education, you need to go where you can get individual instruction.
This is because your grade consists of a large amount of assignments and tests. Instead of one final test to assure knowledge they insist on averaging previous measurements of knowledge along with the final to achive THE FINAL MEASURE OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. How that could more accuratly display how much you know at the end of the semester than a est at the end of the semester I cannot comprehend.
It is because a single performance on a brief exam is not a reliable indicator of knowledge. Were there to be a single comprehensive final exam it should probably take 6 hours, at least for an academic subject. You might try to convince your school to implement such an exam schedule, if you find that more attractive. The problem is that in the current “majority rules” climate, you need to make such an approach to exams more popular sounding. This is another argument for the individual education approach.
The use of work and other assgnments as part of a grade is nonsense. How do you propose copying down definitions or other types of work as adequate proof of knowledge?
I have two answers to this. First, you are basically right but you’re shifting the focus from the clearly legitimate strategy of evaluating the entirety of the student’s performance, to the somewhat questionable practice of simple asking students to memorize “key facts”. Those are different questions. However, since students very often cannot read, comprehend and re-state material contained in a textbook, it is actually not such a waste of time as you make it seem. I agree that it’s outrageous that there are such students in the educational system (assuming you are outraged, too), but the reality is that they exist, and we have to deal with reality. The teacher is required by their employer to teach these unteachable idiots. In public schools this is a particularly serious problem, since you can’t kick a student out for being stupid. Yet another argument for private education.
How can you pull yourself to do this work if you 1. Feel you already know the subject and would not benefit from doing it
I take it that your performance on exams and homeworks bears out your evaluation of whether you know the material, that you are getting all A’s and you’re just doing your time. Have you ever tried discussing your problem with your teacher? Most teachers are quite open to finding more challenging outlets for their better students. The problem is identifying a student who’s up for an intellectual challenge – unfortunately, they don’t wear lapel pins.
You think you need to get the grade so you can go to college and go into a career.
Since you’re questioning this assumption, then you’re on the brink of realizing (if you haven’t done so) that you do not have to go to college to find a job. Unfortunately there is little than you can do about the compulsory education laws, but once you’re 18 (I presume, depending on where you live), you are free to leave school and take whatever job you can get. You may have to wait a couple more years because of that law, but in the meantime, you can study whatever interests you in your spare time, focusing on whatever you think will best position you to be hired in the kind of job you desire, once you’re 18. However, you should take a realistic look at the job prospects. Potential employers do not typically have the time to carefully probe your psyche and knowledge. They may well assume that if you failed courses in high school, you are a screwup and they don’t need to hire a screwup if there is an alternative.
I never actually succeeded in convincing myself in it and have only just made it by so far even though I get A and B grades on my exams only.
Wait, I was under the impression that you actually knew this stuff. So now it looks like the problem is that you have deluded yourself into thinking that you have this knowledge when in fact you don’t.
I no longer can do any assignment unless it is to furthur my learning. This has caused me to get failing grades in several of my classes. If I continue this way I will not graduate.
Now it seems pretty clear that you’ve deluded yourself into thinking that you know stuff that you actually do not know. If you actually knew this material, then you should be able to demonstrate that knowledge, so the only reason you would be receiving failing grades is that you are deliberately self-destructing. (Alternatively, your instructors might all have it in for you and are counting your actually correct answers as wrong: I assue that is not the case since you didn’t mention that).
The first thing I would suggest is that you concentrate on the fact that reality is what it is, regardless of what you want it to be. The second fact you should concentrate on is that man is not omniscient. That means that even if you don’t understand the purpose of a particular exam or homework assignment, your lack of comprehension of the purpose does not mean that there is no purpose. Perhaps you have a psychological need to debate the merits of the standard educational strategy with your teachers – give it a shot, but do remember that your need is not a claim on their lives. If you cannot persuade your parents to pay for private education, if you cannot grasp the motivation for a particular way of teaching, if you cannot discipline yourself to do the work that is required, and if you cannot persuade your instructors to provide free additional instruction designed for your special needs, then you have to simply accept whatever consequences there are, such as failing high school. Remember, your needs are not a claim on anyone else’s life.
I fear the main question I’m asking here is, should I continue like I am now and fail, or is there some other way for me to pass that does not require rationalization?
What you need is recognition, recognition of the fact that you will fail if you continue on this path, that if you consider a university degree to be important to your life’s goals then you must change your attitude, and stop thinking that the world owes you something that you didn’t earn (such as a good grade).
