When I was in college, our exam/essay results were posted publicly. When these were posted, the class would go together and discuss EVERYONE'S results, particularly interested in who had the highest mark. For the first year, I was producing results which placed me within the top 10 out of 70 students. Not only did it feel great to do well, being publicly praised for it was even better. That is, until my final year where I dropped to 14th out of 30 classmates ! Similarly, in University, a piece of paper would be pinned on our notice board with who had passed the year, making it obvious who hadn't and creating an awkward atmosphere around those who hadn't passed.
Sure, when I was doing well, I thought it was a great idea! Afterwards, I thought it was unfair that everyone had access to that knowledge and thought of it as quite insensitive. So I'm a bit torn on this debate and will let you guys be the judge; should schools/universities publicly post students grades?
As always, I will present you with arguments for and against the debate:
ARGUMENTS FOR PUBLIC POSTING
- May motivate those who are underachieving to do well.
- Students should be publicly acknowledged for doing well.
- Encouraging competition may serve as life skills for future job opportunities.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST PUBLIC POSTING
- May cause stress to underachievers who lack the resources to learn e.g poverty, learning disabilities.
- It is "immoral" and can affect self-esteem.
- It may generate unnecessary anxiety before exams even take place, impacting their studies.
The debate is now up to you! Good contributions will be rewarded with reputation throughout the thread and the member who makes the best contributions throughout the month will win the Debater of the Month award, 2 weeks VIP, as well as 250 tokens. Creating interesting member debates will also win you reputation/tokens!
This debate will close on the 7th of November so get your views heard!