Ramiform Reading #2: October 4, 2015
A biweekly list inspired by Dave Pell’s superlative Next Draft. Return here every other weekend for more articles and essays.
You start your own essay this week, and we’ll use that as inspiration for the following ETA reading. In fact, most of these same essays are embedded in the Medium portion of the prompt:
They originate as far back as 1999, but that’s part of the point of this first writing assignment: You, your parents, your teachers, and quite possibly every other person in this country have experienced some of what these authors describe. As you consider your own history with grades and assessment, pieces of these texts will resonate with you.
① Alfie Kohn develops the case against grades
This is the essay that, alongside the occasional existential crisis, inspired grade abatement. It is more or less required reading for us.
There is a lot to glean from Kohn’s writing, because this isn’t just an argument; it’s a survey of sorts — a look at all the research and reasoning that informs the conversation about grades. It is difficult to imagine that anyone could read Kohn and not agree with him.
In terms of your own ETA studies, note how he opens with this epigraph:
“I remember the first time that a grading rubric was attached to a piece of my writing…. Suddenly all the joy was taken away. I was writing for a grade — I was no longer exploring for me. I want to get that back. Will I ever get that back?”
— Claire, a student (in Olson, 2006)
The rest of the article will cite history and larger studies, so this epigraph does the important work of putting a human face on the damage caused by grading. This is about empathy — more specifically, about psychic numbing, which is the reason we react more empathetically to an individual than a statistic.
② Jerry Jesness exposes the floating standard
Jesness provides one of the other key justifications for grade abatement:
I confess. I am a grade-inflating teacher guilty of “social promotion.” I have given passing grades to students who failed all of their tests, to students who refused to read their assignments, to students who were absent as often as not, to students who were not even functionally literate. I have turned a blind eye to cheating and outright plagiarism and have given A’s and B’s to students whose performance was at best mediocre. Like others of my ilk, I have sent students to higher grades, to higher education, and to the workplace unprepared for the demands that would be made of them.
That’s the first paragraph of “Why Johnny Can’t Fail,” and it highlights what Jesness calls the “con game” of public education. You should analyze the approach and introduction Jesness uses in a couple of ways:
- Note the way he varies his syntax, especially the impact of that first, two-word, highly charged sentence.
- Note the way he couches everything that follows in a strange appeal to his own credibility. Unlike most appeals to ethos, this one is about his culpability — his guilt and crisis of conscience.
Then, as you read, pay attention to how he shifts between modes of discourse and modes of argument. At various points, he is supporting claims of fact, value, and policy, and he is doing that through narrative, exposition, and argument.
③ Drew Magary argues against a hyper-competitive culture
This is a funnier one, but it is no less important for its sense of humor. And as you read it, you’ll notice that the humor is intertwined with moments of real emotion. That’s your first takeaway: that a blend of tones can be more powerful than a single, sustained one.
The other ETA work you might do is to analyze how often Magary relies on anecdotes and brief narratives to illustrate or to introduce an idea. You can do this, too, and it is often the most effective way to explore a larger issue. It makes the scale of the subject clear — this is something that affects a father and his daughter — and it tends to resonate more with certain readers.
Don’t miss one of the ramiform links in Magary’s essay:
④ Morwenna Jones opens up about the pressure of high school
This is an article from The Guardian, a British newspaper, but it echoes a universal problem: the toll that high-stakes academics and grade obsession take on teenagers.
In addition to applying some of your recent insight into empathy to Jones’ account, you should also look for her use of concession. She points out herself that others may lack empathy for her (“What did I have to complain about?”); she uses that recognition, however, to move into a broader discussion of depression and anxiety (“But misery has a way of finding you in the most unusual places”).
More than anything, I’d like you to note that this is a person not much older than you when she wrote this essay. Your voice matters, too, and you have a story as compelling and important to tell. We just need to find it.
⑤ Lifehacker tells you how to level up in real life
At the heart of all assessment is a desire to improve, which makes this last essay decidedly important. I’m not that familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, but that doesn’t stop this article from being accessible and informative — and its positive tone helps to highlight the hope in the other four articles.
Follow the many, many links within this Lifehacker piece, and then reflect on the ones you decide to employ. In a few months, we can check in and discuss what we’ve improved.
That’s all for this week. I think we’ll tackle Halloween and horror movies in our next update.
