I stare down at the crime scene in front of me. I see a cruel, red ink mess scratched all over my paper. Seventeen out of 23 — and on a mere in class assignment. I check my phone. Time of death: 8:33 a.m.
Each year, I’ve always had a teacher who grades minor assignments based on accuracy, but never lets us review our errors while looking at an answer key.
I get it. These teachers fear cheating, and they believe students will copy the answer key instead of genuinely doing their homework.
But on behalf of the students who actually do the work, I say it’s unfair to punish us by limiting the material we can access. I learn the material better if I’m able to see what I did wrong and correct errors. Never knowing what I did wrong simply punishes mistakes, while correcting them is key to learning.
The bottom line: This practice runs in the face of actually teaching the concepts of any subject.
