Grade Whore

I remember taking my Shakespeare course in lower division and speaking to one of my classmates that i had for every class that semester. She seemed to be making out pretty well in all of her classes. Meanwhile, I was having difficulty adjusting my style of writing to fit what each professor wanted. Trying to get my square peg to fit in their round hole was slowly eating away at me as the grades never seemed to get better fast enough. So I asked her for some kind of tip to which she cheerfully responded that she couldn't help me because she was just a "grade whore" - Not a wholly uncommon concept - an individual who completely changes their entire style of writing and subject matter to satisfy their teacher/professor in their entirety. Someone without an iota of true voice.

Grades have made us this way. And I agree with many of the statements Bloom made about the inherent problems with using a grading system. It is nerve wrecking, untruthful, and designed for efficiency within a very black-and-white world. Those handing them out are either too involved or too disconnected. Finding a Goldilocks-just-right professor/teacher who will give an accurate and objective assessment is nearly impossible.

So i agree with most of what Bloom states in the first half of the article. I'll even buy into the effectiveness of that specific seminar course that she taught. Yes, I can see how this portfolio style of assessment can work within the context of a group of individuals who have an investment within the subject of English/writing and are actively motivated to become better writers. Bloom even acknowledges what readers are thinking, that this won’t work in nearly any other environment that would truly benefit from it. (By which I mean that if a motivated writer wanted to become better than they would find a way to do so, regardless of their scenario. The individuals who should be the test subject, example would be a group of highly unmotivated students who have no interest in writing at all.)

Bloom asserts this would work in the rest of the world. But How?!

"But teachers working with Writing-Across-the-Curriculum programs have already devised solutions that address most of these matters, and more-ways to assign lots of writing and to manage the paper load through a combination of peer feedback, selective teacher commentary, TA support in large lecture courses, and shifting more responsibility onto the students themselves. If each and every writing assignment incorporates not only the key language of its subject, but of its disciplinary-based form, structure, and style, students will understand what the teacher wants and will have the language both to write in and to discuss their work."

What?! Are you serious? What the hell kind of a weak-ass conclusion is that? Bloom just quickly spits out very generic and vague affirmational-solutions that don't go into constructive detail. Yes, TA Support could help. Yep, shifting responsibility to the students would be great. And a Magic Fairy that comes to enchant the students into become more receptive to constructive criticism and

peer feedback. Yeah, I'll get right on that. I need a follow up. Spoon feed me the basic how-tos. I see exactly what Bloom is saying. I believe the premise. I WANT TO BELIEVE the conclusion. But I just can't. It’s just not good enough.