Tis the season to be grading—and it is anything but jolly! I always thought good artwork was about integrity but I had some challenging exchanges yesterday, and not of gifts. An “A” seemed to be spelled with an “E” (as in Ego) or with an “I” (as in “I Want”). I was seeing students individually yesterday for one of my classes. First one student than another said they WANTED a better grade then they earned, therefore they thought they should have it. O boy!
The most outrageous was a student who said that if he had known what I considered better work he would have done more of that (which he did sometimes) and less of what he was doing most of the time (which was definitely inferior from a “good art” or “art school” point of view). He explained that, coming from a design background, you listened to the client’s wishes and then worked to give them what they wanted. And that, in his mind, translated into giving the teacher what she wanted. O my!
What I want is to have the students understand the process of making art and discover what they want to create and how to go about that, to learn the disciplines necessary to have the control to let things happen.
The reason this student WANTED an A was because he NEEDED it to get into Teacher’s College. Therefore I should give him an A. While we were continuing our (long and intense) conversation about grades, the next student walked in, whereupon the first student said, “Now THERE’s an A Student!” And I said “Yes, she IS.” So obviously the first student, the one who is COMPLAINING to me, knows the difference between what he is doing and what an A student does.
The second student is definitely/obviously an A student. She works hard in and out of class, her work is original, she is not looking to achieve but to discover, she has good critical evaluation of her work and of other’s work but especially of her own, leading her to continue to grow.
The whole question of grading art is suspicious. How many times do we “discover” a great artist long after they could have benefited from the recognition! A grade is based on talent, intelligence, hard work, progress, discipline, class participation, but what percentage of each of all of the above is really fair. Students come to school with different backgrounds, different kinds of talents, different personalities that effect how they relate to a classroom situation. Ultimately a grade is nonetheless subjective. There is no objective measure for judging creativity. No multiple choice exams, no outside standards. It isn’t fair, I agree, to be harsh in grading unless it is helpful to a student. Encouragement can often go a long way in helping a weaker student progress. But it isn’t fair to other students whose work is superior to inflate a weaker student’s grade.
Next semester I think I need to talk about grades much sooner so that students who are working for grades have an equal opportunity with students who are working to understand the process of making art. That doesn’t mean I will like that attitude any better though!
For my next group of critiques on Tuesday I hope I get a good night’s sleep before and I should probably come in (as my friend Brian suggested) with a catcher’s mask on!
Posted by leya at December 10, 2004 04:43 PM