The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Pitch Opinion: Anonymity Will Prevent Teacher Bias

Every day, students are turning in papers as they fly through the hallways from class to class. What students may not know, however, is that the papers they turn in may have failure written on the top before they are ever graded. Students’ signing their names on the tops of papers leads to conscious and unconscious teacher bias based on emotion. Instead, students should use their student I.D.’s to identify their work.

Regardless of race, sex, age or gender, emotion is one thing human beings cannot help but feel. Constantly on display, emotions can be seen in all parts of WJ whether it is teachers looking with disgust and disappointment at the mess in the halls after lunch or teachers praising students who help their classmates. Emotions are perfectly natural reactions to situations and people.

Emotions do, however, affect one’s impartiality and objectivity. This is a cause for concern in all lines of work as well as daily life, but it can be particularly foreboding for students. What is to stop a teacher, consciously or not, from marking down a paper or boosting a grade based on their emotions or attitude toward a specific student? Nothing.

Having students signing their papers with their student I.D. would ensure teacher fairness and prevent teachers from allowing preconceived notions about students affect their grades. It is simply an issue of equality. Whether a student is a snobby teacher’s pet or a goofy class clown, it should not affect how a teacher grades them. Everyone should be held to the same standard.

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Some might argue that retooling the current grading policy would destroy the connection teachers have with students as some believe papers and work give teachers insight into the thinking of the student. However, making papers anonymous to teachers would only segregate teachers’ emotions from students’ work. The student-teacher connection would still exist if papers were nameless and signed with I.D.’s as it does not destroy the bond teachers create with students in the classroom.

The fact is the stakes are far too high to allow something as volatile as emotions affect one’s grades and thus one’s chances of getting into college. Separating emotions from human nature is a task that cannot be done. Therefore, to ensure fairness in grading teachers’ must not have any emotional attachment to the papers they are grading.

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About the Contributor
Abby Singley, Online Editor-in-Chief
Abby Singley was on the Pitch staff since her sophomore year, and as a senior, she was Online Editor-in-Chief and the Print Copy Chief in 2010-2011. The previous year, Abby was the first online editor-in-chief, and was also a copy editor during her sophomore and junior years. She is excited to be involved with the up-and-coming Pitch Online and help bring news to the WJ community in a faster, more innovative way. When not scanning the online administrator page or copy editing articles, Abby likes reading pop culture and news magazines and Web sites. Although she does not know where she is going to school yet, Abby will be entering college as a journalism major next year.
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