We pursue a Lockean education at Moorestown High School, as we've been told by Dr. Bjornstand many a time. That means that we generally follow a neoclassic system in the classroom in which we leave religious matters out of the classroom. Our schedules are well-rounded agendas that consist of systematically run classes that could have been hand-picked from both the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. So, when we began to discuss Romanticism during class, I became curious as to what would happen if our cirriculum changed and suddenly entailed romantic studies.
We'd study tons of poetry and artwork...materials created and composed for the sake of art, itself. We'd base our understanding on emotion. But since, according to Hayakawa, the emotion driven by our intensional and extensional worlds is completely subjective, there wouldn't be any grading system for this kind of school, would there? Without grades, could a school carry out its proper functions? It wouldn't be able to match up to schools that host a Lockean education, but what if all schools became romantically based in their education? Would they be able to function? What would happen without grades?
On another note, how do you feel about a "pass/fail" system as opposed to the letter-grade system (pluses and minuses included) that we operate by?
(Samantha Maliha)
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4 comments:
This is a tangent thought, but I think related:
Artwork was a main component of romanticism, and artwork, in general, is highly subjective (the idea of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"). I have often wondered how art teachers can legitimately give grades. How do you grade a piece of art, whose beauty is so subjective? In order to do this, the teacher has to be looking for certain structure in a piece of art. Does this destroy the purpose of art? Art is meant to be creative and original. Once you give it a regimented structure, is it's essence lost? Is this a way in which our school systems, in the name of giving us a well-rounded education, have attempted to conform a romantic practice to a neoclassic setting?
Emily T.
Doesn't Romanticism already exist within our school? Just look at all the music and art courses that are offered. Those classes are able to function perfectly well. However, the grading does tend to be a problem. Most teachers end up having two choices to make in regards to grades: basing it off of completion and hard work or off of skill. It is definitely easy to make a grade based off of skill, but then it puts some people at a disadvantage. People that took art lessons or that have private teachers in music have a clear advantage over those who don't. This is probably the art and music courses and our school mainly base grades on completion and hard work. In the end, the teachers are not able to make that much of a clear distinction in grades. For example, when we have these stand tests in orchestra (where you basically play the piece that you're learning), the teacher is forced to give everyone a good grade because he or she cannot prove that you didn't practice hard. For all they know, the student just may not good period.
Hmmm..Well, neoclassicism and rationalism still play important roles in our society, including in our educational system. After all, it was Locke's idea of blank slates that helped encourage education in the first place: fill up those slates with helpful teachings and help create a helpful and educated person.
But we have come to recognize the failures of neoclassicism as well. We know today, for instance, that human beings aren't entirely rational, and are often influenced by subconscious desires. Our educational system reflects that as well: in addition to the sciences and mathematics (where 1 + 1 always equals 2), we have a braod range of humanities to learn from as well. In many of these humanities, such as English, we apply both Romantic and Enlightenment principles.
-Eric W
I agree that our education already seems to be built upon both the Neoclassic "rationality" AND the Romantic "sentimentality." I think that the spread of both these intellectual movements through their respective eras in history, as we have learned in both AP3 and European History, demonstrates the significance of both as opposed to either one's complete triumph over the other. However, I agree with Sam that it certainly appears as if education (at least in this country) emphasizes Neoclassic rationality slightly, if not significantly, more than it emphasizes Romantic sentimentality.
Mary, as a fellow Orchestra member, I can't help but respond to your discussion of stand tests! Yes, there is no way for the teacher to prove who has practiced, but (if you recall) this does not necessarily entail that everyone gets a [the same] good grade! Because the teacher doesn't know how much each student practiced, he essentially grades each student upon their natural musical ability or experience with private teaching, which as you've said, implies that some are at a stark disadvantage. Thus his grading becomes even more highly subjective and/or biased than it already is, and the few veteran musicians with years of lessons behind them who actually don't put any effort into rehearsal/practicing (because they don't need to) reap the benefits, while the unfortunate beginners who only get to practice during school and therefore do so diligently are punished with lower grades.
Most of the time these "lower grades" are only lower due to the absence of a plus sign or the existence of a minus sign, but the fact remains that these subtleties are a result of a teacher's innate bias. This connects to Sam's questioning the efficacy of a pass/fail grading system. Perhaps in the case of Orchestra class, a pass/fail system would be beneficial because it would eliminate much of this bias since there are only two options. Yet the ultimate subjectivity of judging one's musical (or as Emily mentioned, artistic) talent would remain, as it always will. Hence this is why I believe music and art teachers (at least those who are serious teachers) must often face tough times grading. After all, can we legitimately blame a teacher for trying his/her best to and differentiate between ten people's versions of the same measures of the same Beethoven song? Although I yearn to shout YES, I know that rather than be a biased Orchestra student and blame him/her, I should instead be an intellectual AP scholar and blame the disparity between the subjectivity of music and the rigidness of the grading system! What a leap up the abstraction ladder!
(Janet Lee)
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