Analysis of “A Proposal to Abolish Grading”

Goodman opens his essay with somewhat a challenge for a group of Ivy League schools to do away with testing, and the results will be drastic based on how the student studies. Goodman realizes that testing itself is inevitable and makes a good comment stating that after school how graduate schools and corporations would know whom to choose or hire (Barnett 16).

A good point Goodman does do is that he tries to answer any common questions in his essay that the reader might have. He even gives the reader a small history lesson on testing in the past. This is a good example that he uses to show the reader what testing was originally used for to compare to what testing is used for now. Goodman states that testing in the past was used for acceptance purposes. It was given to people to see if they were ready to be accepted by their peers. The problem I have with this

qualified to do a particular task, or to see if the person has learned what has been taught (Barnett 16).

Goodman says that if you have to make the student believe that he or she is testing for no other reason than just placement, then that student should seek to his or her level. This is a good thought, but I believe it would be a hard task to convince a student that the grade on the test has no affect on the student in that class, but the test is just to see what the student needs to work on. I know that if I were given tests that have no value then I would not take the test as serious as I would if the test had consequences or rewards (Barnett 17).

Goodman ends his essay with some good thoughts. He is sympathetic to those students who do not test well. He says that it is not fair for a student who is earnestly studying and trying to do well and receive an F. He ends with the statement, “A good teacher can recognize the situation, but the computer wreaks its will”(Barnett 18).

A good thing that Goodman does in his essay is that he does give reasons to keep testing and ways to improve testing. He does not just complain about the problem he has, but he offers solutions alo

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