To the react: There were several classes in which I didn’t do the homework, which accounted for something like 15% of the grade, and I got something like 92% on the tests and projects; but since they took away 15% for the homework, the result was 77%, a C instead of an A. To my mind, a grade should be something like the best estimate of a student’s abilities and knowledge of a subject, and since the homework problems don’t measure anything the tests don’t (I’m distinguishing “answer these 5-20 short problems” from a major project), other than obedience, it seems to me inappropriate to mark someone down for not doing the homework.
I had exactly one teacher, a professor in college, who understood and acted on this idea. His grading formula was such that acing the final always meant you got an A. But, the better you did on homework and tests before that (‘achievement points’), the less the final exam counted for. And the more effort you put in (homework, office hours, class participation), the more leniently your exams would be graded (‘effort points’). And the more effort the class as a whole put in, the more leniently everyone’s exams would be graded. But I think something like that only works if you’re willing to actually let students fail.
To the react: There were several classes in which I didn’t do the homework, which accounted for something like 15% of the grade, and I got something like 92% on the tests and projects; but since they took away 15% for the homework, the result was 77%, a C instead of an A. To my mind, a grade should be something like the best estimate of a student’s abilities and knowledge of a subject, and since the homework problems don’t measure anything the tests don’t (I’m distinguishing “answer these 5-20 short problems” from a major project), other than obedience, it seems to me inappropriate to mark someone down for not doing the homework.
I had exactly one teacher, a professor in college, who understood and acted on this idea. His grading formula was such that acing the final always meant you got an A. But, the better you did on homework and tests before that (‘achievement points’), the less the final exam counted for. And the more effort you put in (homework, office hours, class participation), the more leniently your exams would be graded (‘effort points’). And the more effort the class as a whole put in, the more leniently everyone’s exams would be graded. But I think something like that only works if you’re willing to actually let students fail.