ESSAYS: To Use or Not to Use as Basis for Grades

In a learner’s conquest of education, they have been challenged by numerous methods of evaluating the learning that took place. One of the most prominent methods is the essay writing. From the earliest and most basic level of education, we have been trained in explaining how photosynthesis works or even how global warming affects the earth. Even in college and other higher levels of learning, essay writing as a form of evaluation is inevitable.

One point of view in favor of the use of essay as a form of evaluation is that it hones the skills of the students in explaining the process. Thus, promoting mastery of the subject itself. The students learn every factor that affects the process or the different elements involved to arrive at a conclusion which makes it one of the most reliable methods of evaluating the learning that took place.

Also, essay writing may be a means of self-expression. It allows the student to share his thoughts/opinions through the use of words. And by doing so, may help in developing a good command of the language of instruction. Practice of writing straight with the use of language could be a way for improvement especially for students that are still in the process of learning the languages. Put simply, essay writing may resulted in greater proficiency of communication.
However, the use of essay writing as an evaluation of a student undergoes some controversial issues that may outbalance its proposed benefits. First of all, the evaluation of the teacher on a written output is highly subjective. The tone of writing, words chosen and overall impact of the essay could affect the reader’s evaluation. Although the aforementioned aspects of writing denote the prowess of the student in terms of explaining, it does not really equal to what the child really knows. After all, humans are made to be subjective that is why essays alone should not be used as basis for grades.

In one way or another, essay could be a point of bias which may be evident in the evaluation or the grade given by the teacher. Subconsciously or not, people tend to give a higher rating to people whom they know are performing well. This may be most evident in countries with racial discrimination wherein a teacher coming from the majority population with students that hail from the minority which performance is greatly affected by language barriers. Strictly speaking, the use of essays as a basis for grades is highly subjective.

In summary essays may be one of the most effective way of evaluating the student’s learning, it also may be a way of self expression and possibly honing the skills of the student in areas such as explaining which may result in greater command it must not be used alone as a basis for grading the students. In my opinion, the tests of students should be equally comprised of different types of tests that would give a fair and well rounded evaluation of the learning. With regard to the possible biases in grading the essays, one practical way of avoiding it is by not looking at the name of the examinee before grading the written item.