Graded tests are ineffective byproducts of a system of education severely antiquated and antithetical to actual edification. The question, on the relative morality of graded tests falls neatly under the umbrella of a larger issue: that of grades in general. Grades provide for students an occasionally needed external motivation; this is true, but this is a temporary solution that begets a permanent problem. Our excessive reliance on grades as this external motivator skews the proper role of education which is to develop a proper internal motivation.
I understand this may be a contentious claim but the role of education ought to be to help students become more autonomous and intelligent individuals by instilling within them a passion for learning knowledge and acquiring skills. There are aspects more contentious than others, but the most important is the instilling within them a passion, it’s the cultivation of an internal source of motivation. Grades, on tests and otherwise, are counterproductive to this telos. So graded tests are ineffective and contrary to educations purpose, but they are also immorally administered and immorally used.
Educational rewards and opportunities are supposedly, and rightly so, disseminated based upon relative merit. However, as barometers of this merit, our system of education uses grades, but often more specifically graded tests. This is immoral by virtue of the fact that tests do not effectively (and when they do it is a matter of coincidence) demonstrate merit. It is immoral then to reward with opportunity those who receive the best grades on tests. We are not awarding based upon merit, and it is wrong to extol the unworthy and condemn the laudable.
Question: What is the best way for educators to instill this internal motivation?
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