The Book of Learning and Forgetting---Grading

I really gained a lot of insight into the entire education system by reading The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith.
Our current education system is derived from many wars that took place throughout the last 125 years. The Prussian war is what began the new education movement and we have never looked back. This war transformed us from the classic theory of learning to the official theory of learning. Science then transformed the system and then psychology's scientific view in the classroom is what transformed grading and record keeping into the classroom.

Students were given lists to memorize and with those lists came scores. This was the way students, teachers, and others could determine if learning was taking place. Thus, "people stopped talking about students' abilities and interests and started talking about their scores" (56). Teachers were then required to keep records of all of these scores.

These scores then went to politicians and the "higher ups" so that they could so-call help teachers in order to get the struggling students grades up. This went to publishers who created help books for teachers which then became "an annual multi-billion business that became the biggest single segment of commercial publishing, with a largely captive market" (57).

This view caused students to veer from collabortion (classical theory) on things to fending for themselves---cheating is derived from this method.

I found this very ironic when I read this (when compared to my current classroom). Just from pure observations, my kids don't always like to be graded on things. The first thing that comes out of their mouth when I give them an assignment is "Are we going to be graded on this?". One thing come to mind when they say this: Will they concentrate better because there is less pressure, or will they just blow off the assignment not truly caring how they score?

I can't really answer this question, but I do know that I emphasize that it is important to try their best (the fist rule in my classroom).

I do know that my students like to work with others when given the opportunity. I think that this stems from the classical theory---they usually always partner up with students to whom they can relate to.

Applying this to my own life, I do strive for the highest grades---I'm a "true product" of the official theory of learning. It was something that was en grained in me. I can honestly say that I was disappointed in seeing that we only received credit in one of our classes....I thought it was on the traditional grading scale.

How can we change this way. I know that as I read and pondered how to do so, I felt like I would become an outsider. I can honestly say that I would not be able to do this alone.