Grades in primary school will give bad effects
Since the general election of 2006 government had been changed the primary school and are still changing it. The school minister wants to introduce grades in the primary school and written reviews in first school. But do the children need to get a stamp of what they are good or bad at so early which will give them bad or good self confidence?
Today we have a school system were the children get their grades in the year 8th year of school. That’s a good system and has worked well over all the year that it had existed. I remember when I went in the 8th class that I was glad that I got the grades then and not earlier. I don’t think that I had developed my self enough and got that responsibility that I needed to have, to understand why I should get grades. In Europe they have changed their grade system many years ago, and have been started to give the children grades and written reviews in the primary year of school. But in Sweden they have had the old system till now and it have worked well.
When I have been on my traineeships, or so-called practice, at a primary school I have heard from a lot of teachers in middle school that they think that it’s good to still have the grade system start in high school. They feel that they get more responsibility and more things to do and a lot of teachers have too much things to do all ready. That will result that they won’t have time to plan all their lessons, and all the work beside it, and later that will results that they will get stress.
In all the Swedish schools we have, so called, development discussion from the primary year on two occasions a year were the teacher meets the children and the children’s parents and tell what they are good or bad at and how they enjoy the school and if it’s some subject that the student can do better. During the development discussion the teacher gives the children a “individual development plan” where the teacher, children and their parents describe what the pupil can do better in school or at home. That’s a good way for parents to meet the teacher and se how the pupil’s studies advance in all the different subjects. Of course, the parents have all the right to know how their children are doing in school subjects.
Already in year six at my traineeships school they get tests in almost every subject and it works very well. Even if they are in the end of year six they have been started with tests since the beginning of year six. Of course the pupils are nervous before the test, but they have the mentality for the test and know what is expecting from them. Therefore it is a possible to include grades already in year six, but not earlier than that. In some schools pupils in the sixth grade already goes at middle school and have received the feeling with the assessment.
Children need to be children as long as possible without having to think about that they will be assessed at an early age. They form their self-image after the success the have in school. If it goes bad in school for a child, in all the subjects, the child will be sad and angry and have a low self-esteem. Maybe this will contribute to it and will go even worse for the child and the motivation to study will disappear. Therefore it is not good to put grades to children from grade one to grade five.
To summarize; I don’t think that it will be good to give the children grades in the primary year, because they are not mentally ready for that and it can result in bad self-esteem.
The teachers have a lot of things to do and if they will get more they will probably be stressed, and today it’s a good system with development discussion with the teacher, pupil and parents. That means that the parents know what the children are good or bad at and it’s not necessary to get a new system.
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hello Sussi!
ReplyDeleteWhat a delveloping you have done since your first blogg. Very good! It is easy to follow your thougts and your language is very good and vary. Perfect! So keep up the good work!
/ Louise
Dear Susanne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts on the subject of grades in primary school. I enjoyed reading about your views on the subject!
In the introduction you give a background to the introduction of grades in primary school, which is good, and then you end that paragraph with a question, which should only be used in causal analyses. This assignment was to write an argumentative analysis, in which you are to end the introduction with a thesis statement. In the body of the text you are then supposed to either answer the question you pose (causal analysis) or argue for the thesis statement (argumentative analysis). In your case, the focus on children in the question actually makes the discussion about the teachers (which is of course interesting – that’s not the problem!) beyond your scope. Make sure the body of the text actually deals with the thing you ask/argue for at the end of the introduction! Also, don’t forget to use topic sentences as a kind of heading to the paragraphs, and make sure they are not too long! As to your conclluding paragraph, I think it works rather well!
As to language, it has improved a lot since your first blog, but there are still things that need to be pointed out. The first sentence, “Since the general election of 2006 government had been changed the primary school and are still changing it.” is awkward and I can’t really make out what you are trying to say there. In “introduce grades in the primary school” you use the definite article when you actually talk about primary school in general rather than a specific building. Make sure you are aware of the difference between “where” and “were”. “Over all the year that it had existed” is awkward, and I wonder whether you are trying to say e.g. “over the years” or “during the years it has been in use”. When you say “I had developed my self enough” I guess you mean to say e.g. “I was mature enough”. Make sure you know the difference between the simple past and the the present perfect (as for instance in “they have changed” where you should have the simple past). In “and have been started to give” I guess you mean to say “and started giving”. Be careful to check subject-verb agreement to avoid errors such as “it have worked”. In “much things to do” you have a countable noun and therefore you should use “many” rather than “much”. In “That will result that they won’t have time to” you should have written e.g. “As a result there will be less time to”. “And later that will results that they will get stress.” is another awkward sentence which could have been expressed e.g. “and in the end they will be overworked”. Make sure you know when to use “a” and “an”. Rather than “what is expecting from them” you say ”what is expected of them”. “Possible” is an adjective, whereas “possibility” is a noun.
Keep it up!
Best,
Marika
Dear Sussie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. You deal with a lot of ideas and I do agree with you.
What you have written, though, is more of a causal analysis than an argumentative analysis. You end your introduction with a question, where there should actually be a thesis statement. An argumentative analysis is an analysis where you clearly make a stand and then you fight for your reasons until the bitter end...
There are a few grammatical errors, but I will not comment on them since Marika have already done that.
Keep up like this!
Best regards,
Maria Persson