Looking Beyond the Red Ink

When faced with the question of ‘alternative’ methods of education, I’m not entirely sure what I ought to say, because I’m not sure that I have a full grasp of what is supposed to be ‘conventional’. As a homeschooler, my education was never really ‘normal’, and while I know how the public school system works, I’m not sure I completely understand how it works. I have been told that schools largely teach to tests and expect their students to memorize formats and facts and dates, but because I have never experienced it first hand, I can’t really compare it to anything very well. However, while looking at the different alternative education philosophies, I did find one school, Evergreen State University, which seems to have found an education method that is not even found in homeschooling communities: they don’t give their students grades. 

While many other ‘alternative’ forms of education are at least somewhat subtle in their approach, this gradeless approach radically changes everything about ‘conventional’ education. By eradicating the unspoken yet normal goal of a class, to pass with an ‘A’, ESU poses an obvious question, one they are probably just itching to answer:

What, exactly, is the point of education?

I’m not quite sure what ESU has to say about this (if they have it written anywhere on their site, I couldn’t find it. It’s not exactly a very user friendly site, in my opinion) but analyzing it from my perspective, I would have to say that the point of education is a holistic betterment of the mind, body, and soul. Without grades, the focus turns from the potential jobs and bragging rights or even pride in a good grade, and turns back to, well, learning and the importance it holds for the person’s life not their career. Without the distracting red ink literally spelling out a grade that will affect the rest of your college career, the unconventional education philosophy of ESU constantly reminds you what education is really about, one ungraded assignment at a time: learning for life.

And while I don’t pretend to think that the whole Christian college community will switch over to a gradeless curriculum overnight, if at all, I think ESU highlights a very valid point:

We don’t learn by earning grades. We learn by really learning.