John Christmann 3/1/2014 Week 6

The author was a political anarchist, so his vested interest in abolishing grading may be that it represents a form of centralized authority which imposes its evaluations onto students, which is analogous to the state imposing duties and restrictions onto its citizens. The audience doesnt seem to be any particular group, besides parents who are marginalized by Goodman in a swift sentence of disregard. The authors thesis is clear, and it is that grading ought to be abolished because it is inefficient. The author makes the assumption that the only jobs folks are seeking involve nonacademic positions, where ability-testing doesnt require grading. However, folks in academia see the point in grading for evaluating applicants for PhD programs and such. The author appeals to pathos when he claims that grades are a power-play by the authorities in charge at a university towards the end of the piece, which is clearly an appeal to folks emotions. The evidence presented isnt convincing, as it consists in the authors reading of a collection of essays about grading. He never discusses the counterevidence or possible counterarguments, as this piece of clearly polemical. The piece is organized in an odd way, but it is still readable. The authors tone is clearly polemical as well. Overall, the author has not convinced me that we ought to abolish grades full stop, as academic jobs still require grading systems to weed out bad applicants for graduate programs.