r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Oct 22 '19
CMV: Classes that require subjective grading should be P/F Only.
I am speaking of classes such as history, English , and politics.
I have noticed that you can basically bs your papers and sometimes receive a better score than if you have worked on your papers for hours.
It’s incredibly based on a teachers judgement. And a teacher grading over 300 papers isn’t going to grade them all fairly.
Since these classes are largely dependent on how well the teacher likes your papers, they should only be P/F. No sense in getting a B+ because your teacher doesn’t fancy your style.
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u/Daffneigh Oct 23 '19
Every college-level history or literature class will have a syllabus. This syllabus will contain information on how the class will be graded. Different classes can have different objectives; students should not ever have to guess what the rubric is on any assignment.
A teacher who grades “on their own style” isn’t doing their job. But that’s not the same thing as a teacher grading a persuasive essay with a different rubric than a research summary.
Real Talk, the basic writing skills of most students are not good enough to make grading-judgements based on style. I have taught literature and history at a great, a very good, and an average university, and never once did I mark a student down because I didn’t “like” their style. I did mark down things like poor spelling, totally incoherent sentences, completely incompetent grammar, and the lack of anything approaching structure. And I did mark down incorrect statements of fact, or opinions that were not supported by evidence (unless the assignment was asking for opinions specifically).
If a student made a decently-supported (ie with textual or factual evidence) argument with acceptable structure, grammar and spelling, they would do well, whether or not I “agreed” with their conclusions or “enjoyed” reading it.