Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 19:12:12 -0400
From: Thomas F Brown <tombrown@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Subject: Re:  Grading/Certification and Social Control
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <97Apr10.191226edt.2225-3@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT


TR, you did a good job of explicating the dark side of testing, but it
seems to me that students benefit from some feedback on their performance,
some way to discover their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the
course content. Written evaluations on term papers only assess part
of the students' understanding of course materials, since few term papers
will incorporate all of it. Testing can better assess the students' grasp
of the course content in toto.

And let's be realistic--testing is a great motivator. In an ideal system
students are motivated by their intellectual curiosity, but in the world
we work in that's just not enough in most cases.

The above is not to argue with your case--I'm with you all the way.
I just think you overstated it.