In yesterday’s cohort seminar, we were asked to produce a more accurate description for each grade. And I found it very confusing as satisfactory, good, very good and excellent all give a positive vibe. But if you look at the actual grading, satisfactory(D), good(C), very good(B) and excellent(A), I bet students will not be that satisfied when they got a satisfactory D. At the end of the session, Lindsay mentioned someone from Wednesday’s class suggested to use a personality test to categorise students, rather than the conventional A-F. This idea intrigued me and after some thought, I think it could actually work!

A-F Grades

…teachers, administrators, parents, college admission officers and employers are turning to grades for basic information and about academic aptitude and accomplishment.

J. Schneider & E. Hutt , Journal of Curriculum Studies (2013):
Making the grade: a history of the A–F marking scheme, Journal of Curriculum Studies, DOI:
10.1080/00220272.2013.790480

The A-F grading system is an invention to provide a reliable and universal measurement of one’s ability, facilitating efficiency in every aspect of society. For a grading system to last for a century, it has its advantages, but its disadvantages are even more apparent when the subject assessed does not have an obvious right or wrong answer, such as arts and design.

Subjectivity that is unavoidable will produce unfair grades, which may have a profound impact on a student’s future journey in society. But who are we to say this painting is a D and that one is an A? Van Gogh’s paintings were a clear F throughout his life as he didn’t get much attention from the art world. Now, his paintings are worth millions. Is he an A or F?

Grading for student’s learning

One purpose of a grading system is to let the students know what they are good at and what they will need to improve on. In a student-centred learning experience, this is of utmost importance as we, the teachers, should facilitate them to find out their paths, not just to do great at school. I think we should open as many doors as we can for them but not put them on a destinated path solely to complete the course’s objectives. And therefore I think the personalities matrix can work.

Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

In personality typology, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Of all 16 personalities, there isn’t one better than the others. All personalities have their own strengths and weaknesses and are measured with four pairs of dichotomies: Introverts (I) vs Extraverts (E), Intuitive (N) vs Observant (S), Thinking (T) vs Feeling (F), and Judging (J) vs Prospecting (P).

I got 82% out of 100% for Judging against Prospecting in my personality test, which means I feel most comfortable when the course ahead is well-marked. I would prefer having a backup plan for my backup plan than dealing with ad-hoc events. My strength is being well-organised but my weakness is being inflexible. In this particular case, J and P are in a parallel relationship rather than a hierarchical one.

To implement the theory into the art world, an artist can be more of a thinker, a maker, a researcher, an explorer, a romantic, a pragmatic, etc. For example, a thinker versus a maker can be seen in a similar light to a theoretical physicist versus an experimental physicist. The theoretical physicist produces original theories based on deep research and analysis, and the experimental physicist uses experiments and observations to prove or disprove a hypothesis. In the art world, you will meet people who have very unique thoughts and see the world through a lens that no others can, like Yayoi Kusama.

And, people who have excelled in their technical skills that no other can achieve, like Leonardo da Vinci.

If we can establish a system that can categorise students, we can then provide more personalised support. If a student is more of a maker, we can help them to excel in that aspect OR encourage them to try something more original and unexpected. The students can decide which way to go after. One of the questions that students always evade answering is “What do you want to be?”, simply because they don’t know the answer. As one of my cohorts said in class, she had a student who was not good at graphic design but was in a graphic design course, though has the potential to be a great fashion designer. If we have a such system in place, it can help students to know more about themselves and help us to understand them better.

Meanwhile, it may be a bold move to change the system and it will take time. I wonder what I could do in a micro sense. I think the very least I can do is let them know grade is not everything and that being technical is not less than being philosophical, even if the system tells you otherwise.