Grade Shaming

Robsweezie

So Cambridge students have petitioned against the public posting of their exam results, concerned about a culture of ''grade shaming''
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/article4446902.ece

This guy did a piece in response, basically a ''tough sh!t, thats life, we're raising a generation of pussies'' attitude. He's not all wrong in what he says, there will be a lot more testing times to come in a person's life than grades on a page. And you're gonna need a thicker skin.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/21/please-let-s-get-real-about-grade-shaming.html

with the leaving cert results due out this week, this topic crossed my mind. I did a quick search of the ''shaming'' phenomenon and combined it with the subject of academic grades, and yes, we even have a ''shaming'' for that too. I have to agree with the points made about shaming becoming so widespread it's ridiculous and everyone waiting to be offended.

But I also would feel for the more vulnerable students taking the whole thing to heart and getting seriously jeered and even suicidal over it. It does encourage a sense of undesirable competition where smugness is prevalent. But.....failure and rejection can be character building in some cases, motivating you to do better on your next effort. But to be honest, I certainly wouldn't like my results to be public knowledge if they were sh!t.

Is it necessary to do this? Would you like it introduced here for our exams?

LDN_Irish

Stung by bee? Why not stung by A?

MadsL

Why are exam results a matter of public interest? Surely they can be published by candidate number only?

pmasterson95

Ah now you cant expect a thick skin in this millenials. Its all about being sensitive & delicate little souls having a whinge until bandwagon hunters leap on and start a ruckus to get help from gulible morons.

The Backwards Man

It's handy if you're like me and actually forgot what degree you got (shows how much I used it ) Checked up online and there it was, there.

jimboblep

Simple solution, work harder.
If it is case you work hard and still get poor results then you simply were not good enough to be there.
The world needs ditch diggers.

Ave Sodalis

I think there's a difference between being overly sensitive about grades and grade shaming. There's far too much pressure on students to perform well and there's too much irrelevant crap associated with getting good grades. Many students are under the illusion that getting bad grades means you're stupid but high grades make you intelligent. However, there are far too many forms of intelligence which are ignored.

Basically, there's too much stigma attached to getting bad grades which is excessive in comparison to what bad grades actually mean.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Christ on an actual bike.

It's completely unnecessary to name names. If you want grades published, then publish them by exam number. Someone who's not doing well might decide to opt out than risk public humiliation rather than give it a harder shot. There's just no need for it.

Pherekydes

Nobody's publishing my LC results online! :mad:

Guy:Incognito

Pherekydes wrote: »

Nobody's publishing my LC results online! :mad:

Looks like you dodged a bullet so.

The people you hand paper to to dry their hands probably have an idea anyway.

Pherekydes

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Looks like you dodged a bullet so.

The people you hand paper to to dry their hands probably have an idea anyway.

We use cloth towels, like every other house.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Candie wrote: »

It's completely unnecessary to name names. If you want grades published, then publish them by exam number. Someone who's not doing well might decide to opt out than risk public humiliation rather than give it a harder shot. There's just no need for it.

I kind of agree, but I can really see the other side too. At some point in these students' lives (at a great many points, in fact) their work and capability is going to be assessed in comparison to other people's. Sometimes they will be measured and found wanting, and that's not 'shaming', that's a part of life that can be difficult to deal with but will have to be dealt with. For people of my generation, that comparison was routine from our school days and was no big deal by the time we got to college (one of my departments posted named grade lists, AFAIR). Far better to get the hell used to it in a relatively consequence-free environment like college than get into a competitive workplace (which presumably is the destination in mind for many students at a college of Cambridge's calibre) and be #triggered and have a meltdown when it's pointed out your work isn't as good as Bob's, so Bob's getting the bonus.

Robsweezie

Pherekydes wrote: »

We use cloth towels, like every other house.

I think he's joking about you being a lowly public toilet assistant because you have failed/ will fail exams :0

conorh91

That reminds me, the leaving cert results are out this week aren't they?

Posting university exam results publicly is is one thing, a bit of internal competition is good for you.

However, I am uncomfortable about the media's obsession with leaving certificate results, and the pressure it places on students who may be disappointed, or who may feel inadequate compared to their peers, even in cases where they have been awarded sufficient points for whatever it is they want to study at third level. Just leave them alone.

darkpagandeath

If only people did not hand out C.V's with this information splashed all over them like confetti or put this up on recruitment websites.... Jesus.

Pherekydes

Robsweezie wrote: »

I think he's joking about you being a lowly public toilet assistant because you have failed/ will fail exams :0

I'm even more baffled now. What exams have I failed?

Jumping to conclusions...

Precious flower

I remember when my brother gradated years ago they included the honours (or not) that each person had received (first honours, second class honours etc.) but they dropped that recently and I think that's no harm. I really don't think grades should be shown publicly. What's the point? It's fine if your the student who has done well, but what if you haven't. I think it's just cruel and doesn't help students. Why is important that other people besides those who are close to that you tell, see your grades?

Robsweezie

Pherekydes wrote:

I'm even more baffled now. What exams have I failed?

Pherekydes wrote:

Jumping to conclusions...

Apologies it came out wrong. Guy incognito cracked a joke about you handing toilet paper to people presumably as a crappy job, as a consequence of "failing" exams. That those people have an idea of how "poorly" you did. He must've thought because you were so reluctant to have them shared publicly is because you did crap. Again, a joke. A joke about crappy results = crappy job which is absolutely not the case for everyone. Nobody's saying you failed anything for real.

rainbowtrout

So these students are going to what is considered to be one of the top universities in the world, having it on their CV will certainly open doors for them, regardless of their degree they probably won't have trouble finding work and they are whinging about lists of grades being posted?

The Randy Riverbeast

Putting results up on a notice board is a fairly stupid system. If only they put internet on computers so the students could just log in and see their results. Think of all the amazing things we'll be able to do with such technology.

Anita Blow

In TCD at least (and I'm sure all other universities/colleges in Ireland), grades are published publicly by exam number rather than name. The idea of publishing exam results is that they can be open to public scrutiny and challenge.

G_R

Anita Blow wrote: »

In TCD at least (and I'm sure all other universities/colleges in Ireland), grades are published publicly by exam number rather than name. The idea of publishing exam results is that they can be open to public scrutiny and challenge.

I know DIT is the same. It's posted either by exam or student number, depending on the lecturer.

Pherekydes

Robsweezie wrote: »

Apologies it came out wrong. Guy incognito cracked a joke about you handing toilet paper to people presumably as a crappy job, as a consequence of "failing" exams. That those people have an idea of how "poorly" you did. He must've thought because you were so reluctant to have them shared publicly is because you did crap. Again, a joke. A joke about crappy results = crappy job which is absolutely not the case for everyone. Nobody's saying you failed anything for real.

Here, have some loo roll. Go blow your nose...

:pac:

osarusan

I don't really see the point of publishing the grades by name.

Even so, i don't really see the point of protesting about it.

Most of all, I think that Daily Beast article is horrendously bad.

darkpagandeath

Precious flower wrote: »

I remember when my brother gradated years ago they included the honours (or not) that each person had received (first honours, second class honours etc.) but they dropped that recently and I think that's no harm. I really don't think grades should be shown publicly. What's the point? It's fine if your the student who has done well, but what if you haven't. I think it's just cruel and doesn't help students. Why is important that other people besides those who are close to that you tell, see your grades?

To get a job...

FrStone

Precious flower wrote: »

I remember when my brother gradated years ago they included the honours (or not) that each person had received (first honours, second class honours etc.) but they dropped that recently and I think that's no harm. I really don't think grades should be shown publicly. What's the point? It's fine if your the student who has done well, but what if you haven't. I think it's just cruel and doesn't help students. Why is important that other people besides those who are close to that you tell, see your grades?

We were doing a clean out of the attic recently, and found the booklet from my mams graduation day. They published it like that too, I thought it was fair though it just said if you were a 1.1 or 2.1 etc. It didn't exactly say who was last.

It was interesting in that out of a class of 125, there were only two 1.1 students. It really shows how bad grade inflation is, sure a 1.1 is fierce common now a days.

It creates transparency to be able to see everyone's results.

Depending on your course in UCC you can actually request to see your classes overall grade broken down by person, so that you can see where you came.

Samaris

I'd mention to the people saying pretty much 'sure, they need to get used to it' that even with adults these sorts of conversations tend to be held privately for much the reason of not shaming people. Why should teenagers be any different? Also, in the rare case where it might be public, adults are expected to have the decorum and decency to not comment on it whereas kids/teenagers...well, can be pretty cruel. Not to say ofc that adults can't be pretty douchey, but fortunately, the adults that never got past teenage bullying mentality are fairly rate overall.

One eyed Jack

It's Cambridge, not kindergarten.

Special Circumstances

Troy Thundering Stew wrote: »

and be #triggered and have a meltdown

:pac: #triggered :pac:


Grade shaming me arse, I thought special snowflakes didn't fail things anymore, only "did not succeed". Shur everyone is special and we all get medals because no one is more special than the next right?

No more of that nasty maths, you can just talk about how the maths problem makes you feel and how you would mount a tumblr campaign to smash its oppression... I mean it didn't even address you by your chosen pronoun...

conorh91

Anita Blow wrote: »

In TCD at least (and I'm sure all other universities/colleges in Ireland), grades are published publicly by exam number rather than name. The idea of publishing exam results is that they can be open to public scrutiny and challenge.

It's easy to work out who's who.

When I was a student there, some of the more competitive guys had worked out a list of student numbers with corresponding names. I guess people like to know who their competitors are.