Against Grading: Feminist Studies beyond the Neoliberal University

Abstract

This article makes a crucial intervention into feminist pedagogy by critically interrogating one of the foundational aspects of the modern-day university system: the way we grade. Based on our combined two decades of teaching in feminist studies, as well as the work of Audre Lorde, Paulo Freire, and Michel Foucault, we argue that, because of its disciplinary functions, grading cannot be a feminist practice. While much has been written about how grades discipline students, we argue that the grading regime implemented in US universities and colleges also disciplines individual faculty members as well as their programs and departments. Grading is one way in which a rhetoric of excellence is perpetuated, a rhetoric that enforces a capitalist ethic of production and profitability. Grading is also a means through which the liberatory power of social justice–oriented programs and departments is co-opted by the neoliberal university. The article concludes that a feminist approach to teaching and learning requires a move toward alternative modes of learning assessment as part of a larger reconfiguring of the university. It closes by inviting the readers to join the authors in an organized movement against grading.