What Do Grades Mean (at two different universities)?

Teaching at two very different universities, (one private, one public) for the past twenty years, has been one of the biggest joys and greatest challenges of my life. It’s also almost impossible to not compare the two places. Though there are many similarities among the students I teach, the disparities are stark. There is so much I could write about that, and one day I will. But right now I want to talk specifically about students’ concepts of grades.

Exceptions to every rule and all that, yes, but generally my students at the private university are highly grade conscious. Generally, my students at the public university are not. Students at one university tend to expect As and believe they deserve them, often regardless of effort or skill. And they frequently beg me to tell them how they can “get a better grade” even after they’ve received a B+ or even A-. They do this sometimes in tears, and sometimes with hostility, even as they point to my rubric and the criteria explaining what a successful paper looks like.

Students at the other university tend to aim for B’s but are content with Cs or anything that is “passing.” I cannot recall a single instance of a student there who has ever argued with me about a grade and insist I see it differently. And although I offer students who receive a B- or lower a chance to revise, few students ever take me up on the offer. I know that the reasons behind this have almost everything to do with racism and classism and the kinds of school experience my public university students have had before they even get to my classroom. And some of my students at the private university have experienced those things too. But again that is an essay for another time.

I found myself this week telling one group of students I wish they cared less about grades and more about learning, and the other group that they need to aim higher and expect more of themselves because they are absolutely capable of doing better than they are, and I expect more of them. These two messages might seem antithetical. But “context is everything,” as Margaret Atwood has said.

I want my public university students to aim higher and believe they are capable. Many of them have financial concerns and responsibilities that many of my private school students could never comprehend. They are often taking care of children or younger siblings, helping parents out with rent and other expenses, and working at least part time while they go to school. But that is not the full picture. Many of my students there have confessed to me that they simply forget to do the homework on a regular basis or that they chose to prioritize other classes. Many of them have admitted that not much was expected of them in high school — that as long as they showed up regularly, they passed with Cs. They have not yet learned that college instructors expect more than that. Or at least they should, and shame on them if they don’t. I expect a lot from my students — at both universities, despite their differing experiences and circumstances. I expect some show of engagement and effort from all of them. My students are capable of doing so much more than just filling a seat in order to pass the class. And my students are capable of doing so much more than just the minimum work required to get an A.

Grades both matter and they don’t. Of course a student’s GPA has consequences for financial aid, parental expectations, internships, graduate school, or undergraduate transfers to other programs or universities.

At both schools I try to de-emphasize grades because truthfully, I think they have very little value other than for the reasons listed above. They are not a real measure of what students have actually learned, or how hard they worked. As is the case for most instructors, the universities where I teach require me to assign a grade at the end of the term. Otherwise, I would dispense with grades entirely.

I teach College Writing, which is so subjective. But I try to be clear and name my expectations, articulate what I want. But the truth is that what I want doesn’t always easily translate into a grade.

Here’s what:

I want students to be exposed to texts and ideas that are new to them. I want them to examine their old ideas in new light that is shed by the texts we read and the discussions we have with each other.

I want students to think deeply about the texts, to ask meaningful questions.

I want them to know that it’s OK to not have all the answers and that asking questions and admitting you don’t know, is super smart.

I want them to examine their own beliefs and the various factors that have lead them to those beliefs. I want them to question what they have been taught about themselves and about people like them. And question what they’ve been taught about people very much NOT like them, too. I want them to identify all their taken for granted assumptions about themselves, their families, and the entire world. And I want them to question those assumptions and ask why those assumptions exist.

I want them to reflect on what their lives mean and why they matter. I want them to come to a greater understanding of why the texts we read matter and for whose lives they matter. If students feel a text doesn’t matter to them I want them to understand and articulate why. Or at least wonder about that.

I want them to use writing to explore all these things. I want them to write genuinely, and trust the process. I want them to take their writing and their minds seriously, to take some risks in their thinking, in their writing, and in our conversations in the classroom. I want them to approach the texts and our discussions with kindness but also with curiosity.

I want them to show me they are keeping up with the readings and genuinely thinking about the ideas that come up throughout the course.

This might be a lot to ask. I don’t know. What all this means for assigning a grade at the end of the semester, I also do not know. But I do know that I will never stop trying to design my courses around presenting students with the opportunity to do all of this, and that in twenty years of teaching, the students who have, are the ones who do well. At both universities.