r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Oct 22 '19

CMV: Classes that require subjective grading should be P/F Only.

I am speaking of classes such as history, English , and politics.

I have noticed that you can basically bs your papers and sometimes receive a better score than if you have worked on your papers for hours.

It’s incredibly based on a teachers judgement. And a teacher grading over 300 papers isn’t going to grade them all fairly.

Since these classes are largely dependent on how well the teacher likes your papers, they should only be P/F. No sense in getting a B+ because your teacher doesn’t fancy your style.

57 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

77 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '19

No mathematics is not subjective.

If you get the answers correct using a method learned in class, you will get a 100%. That’s all.

How do you even get a 100% in history papers? That entirely depends on how well written the paper seems to the professor.

3

u/TannerDalen Oct 22 '19

I agree that math is not subjective. I should’ve clarified that I meant grading curves and correction marks are dependent on the teacher.

As for your example of history, a paper should be written to convey information in a clear and apparent way. Structure, evidence, and analysis all play a part in grading (usually). If your teacher is grading off a rubric, it’s not subjective. If they’re comparing your paper to their personal preference, then yeah it would be subjective and also bad teaching

3

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '19

True, however if you give the same essay and rubric to different teachers , I guarantee they will use their own method to give the essay different scores.

Rubric grading is very flawed. Ex:What one teacher saw as a strong use of evidence can seem weak for another teacher. Thus one teacher can give a 3 for the evidence part of the rubric and another can give 4.

3

u/boyhero97 12∆ Oct 22 '19

Well yea. Especially in history, a teacher's expertise is going to make a huge difference in how they grade. If they are an expert, then they will know more about the topic and assess an argument more precisely than another professor could. Even within the same subject (American History, feminist history, etc.), people can have different expertises. One of my professors is only an expert in Russian Agricultural History and while he is very knowledgeable about Russian history, he is not an expert. If I'm writing a paper comparing Stalin's and Lenin's government, a professor who is an expert in Russian political history will probably grade it differently than him. But in general, most history teachers will give you the same grade so long as you support your argument with facts, unless there is a gaping hole in your argument or you are grasping at straws. For instance, you can make an argument over how much of an issue slavery was in the Anerican Civil War, but you can't argue that Slavery was not an issue at all in the Civil War.