Marks, Grades - So What?

At present I'm waiting to hear what my children have got for their respective courses. Both are teetering on the grade boundary between the top mark and the next down. I am desperate for them to get the top grades. I'm their mother!

I'm their mother, that's why I care. And it will matter to them. The top grade will be a source of confidence in the future or the lower grade will persistently niggle as they came so close. BUT NO ONE ELSE WILL CARE.

No one has ever asked what A levels I got, what degree class I have, whether I got a pass or distinction for my MA. It's never been relevant. And I've been working in an academic environment for the past eight years, where you'd think someone might, one day in passing, ask. But no.

The same is even more true for Creative Writing courses. All anyone cares about in the real world is the writing. I didn't get a distinction for my MA in Creative Writing, but that didn't stop me getting published while those who did get distinctions languish on the slush pile. When I did my MA I was truly amazed that some of my fellow students cared what mark they got, and cared to the point of asking to find out what others had got, and then complained if they thought they were 'better'. (And if this is you, take it from me, class performance does not necessarily predict the quality of assignments submitted.)

It's not maths, or physics, where there are absolute answers: 2 + 2 = 4, and all that. It's all opinion, and may have no relevance to the real world at all. I mark according to nearness to publication quality a piece may be. A short story I give a high mark to I'd expect to see in a competition short list. I could be wrong. I like to think that I'm quite consistent at marking relative to other work I've seen in the past and my wobbles are over giving a 54 or a 55, rather than deciding between 54 or 64. That distinction is always clear.

But if you're currently waiting for a grade, congratulations if it's high, commiserations if it's low, but above all remember it is completely irrelevant to anyone other than you. And your mum.

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Marking Woes

End of term - hooray! No more teaching - I'm free! And then the unmistakeable thud of assignments plopping through the letter box and the illusion of freedom is gone. It's bad enough having deadlines for my own writing, let alone having deadlines for marking other people's writing.

I love teaching and enjoy meeting students, but marking is - and I was thinking of being tactful but decided against it - the pits. I usually like reading the work, it's the assigning of grades that's so difficult. Is this one to get a 64% or is it only 62%? This assignment has lots of grammatical and spelling errors and the presentation is terrible, but there's a feel for language that makes the heart sing - should they be marked higher or lower than the perfect presentation that technically 'works' but reads at a plod? The writer in me goes for higher but I suspect I may have to argue the case later on so it would be easier to give them both the same mark...

Would we look at a Picasso, for example, and mark him higher, or lower than a Rembrandt? Would we be judging on use of materials, brush work, composition or the emotional effect the whole work created? Would we consider that a wide canvas with many characters was 'better' than an intimate portrait?Would we mark experimentation and innovation up or down? Should courage be rewarded, even if it fails, compared to playing safe?

When I'm agonising I remember I once had to cover for another lecturer. At the end of class one of the students sidled up to me and asked what mark I'd give for the work she'd brought in. Off the top of my head I said a high 2:2 - perhaps 58%. I discovered later it had been marked before and she'd complained so it had gone to a second marker. Luckily the second marker had agreed with the first - 58%. No wonder she'd looked sour at my spontaneous response.

It's fascinating we'd all agreed, given writing is such a subjective subject. I was terrified the first time I had to mark a bunch of assignments but it was quite clear where most of them lay in relation to each other. At university level there are second markers and outside examiners which gives some standardisation of marks. When I've worked with second markers and moderators it's rare for there to be much disagreement. We may not like to hear this, but some writing really is better than others and it shows.

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