A Proposal to Abolish Grading

In " A Proposal to Abolish Grading" by Paul Goodman, Goodman suggests that grading should stop and that schools should use only testing as their form of instruction. He reasons that "grading hinders teaching and creates a bad spirit, going as far as cheating and plagiarizing" (Goodman 259). However, I believe that grading is a necessary process for a student's success. To abolish grading and rely solely on testing would place students at risk for failing by placing them in a pressured atmosphere, breaking the link of understanding between student and teacher, and reducing the student's options to cheating.
When a test is given, there are certain rules and reststrictions that a student must follow. These rules and restrictions are supposed to help direct the student's focus to the test, but they actually do the opposite. They create a tense environment which, in turn, makes the student uncomfortable. The student feels pressured to focus on the test and over-analyzes what the test is asking. It becomes harder to remember any information that was gained during the study process. As a result of the tension and uncomfortable surroundings, the student fumbles through the test and there is no graded assignment to balance out what has just happened. The student has failed.
There is also the link of understanding that is established between the teacher and student when graded assignments are the primary source of instruction. The grading tells the teacher more about the student's capabilities than testing can. The student works through the assignment and is able to discuss his work with the teacher for better comprehension of the subject. This communication between teacher and student could not be established if the lesson structure was on testing alone. To rely on testing as opposed to grading would make any possible connection obsolete.
Goodman argues that cheating and plagiarizing are a result of the bad spirit that grading creates, but I, on the other hand, argue that testing brings about cheating and plagiarizing. It is much easier to be swayed into cheating when one knows that a test is in the work, than it is when you have to sit through a lesson and submit graded work. With grading, the information is available at all times for you to reference throughout your work, but during a test, it is on your memory alone that your grade counts. If it is not in your memory bank, then you simply do not know, and t shows in the low mark that is received. Therefore, people find it easier, or more alluring, to cheat on the test rather than try to remember everything. None of these things would have to happen, however, if teachers would stick to grading instead of testing. Grading allows for better knowledge of the material and therefore less cheating. To rely solely on testing would result in the aforementioned scenarios. Testing is a tedious task to endure and students would be much better off with grading as the primary source of instruction.