Grades or marks form a big influential element in a student's life.

Grades benefit education in best possible interest

of a student and his or her learning ability.

Despite of having the opposing viewpoints, it seems some kind of outside reward is almost always expected.
Backbone can be used as a metaphor for grade in the academic society. It acts a motivational factor for students to
get a better grade. In turn, these grades promote competition between students, as far as grade points averages
are concerned.

Many public or private schools are transitioning to standard-based grading system which rates a student's
proficiency in individual standard-based skills. It has largely eliminated the marks system drawbacks and by its
reaping benefits.

To mention few advantages of grading system are -easy assessment (A to F grades or call it letter grades) which
gives fairly accurate idea about the child's performance. From the parent's point of view, it becomes easy for them
to understand by simplifying it in letters from chaotic academic details.

Because each letter grade generalises a certain percentile range, students may strive simply to attain the lowest
percentile associated with the target grade. For instance students can attain B by achieving percentages ranging
from 80 to 89. Other accuracy issues such as attendance, class participation and late assignments can have a
sizeable impact on a student's final letter grade.

Grade could be point system or letter grades, further bifurcating absolute or relative grading method could serve
as a competitive filter. Because grades are almost always used at some point for some sort of competitive
evaluation, it can be used as measurement scale for the students' performance.

Thus grading system however gives consistency and illusion of fairness. It also gives permission in screening the
students according to their performance relative to their peers.

(By Kamra 2017)

Since the 1970s, economic theorists have wrestled with the problem of education. Aside from learning and self-
improvement, their models led them to conclude that the primary reason we go to school is to prove to potential
employers that we would be good employees, mostly by getting as much education as possible.

Their models said nothing about other types of information, such as grades, letters of recommendation, and other
measures of “reputation.” This led economists to predict that students of varying abilities would tend to end their
education at different points in the journey from high school to a Ph.D., and that the more capable students would
pursue more education to differentiate themselves from less capable students

In reality, there are many factors that influence how many degrees people tack on to their résumés. But despite
the limitations of the models, attempts to understand how ability is communicated through educational
attainment have led to a general mathematical understanding of the way that one party conveys or signals
information to another. It is a framework that can be applied to everything from online rating systems to car
warranties. Now Brett Green, an assistant professor of finance at the Kellogg School of Management, and Brendan
Daley, an assistant professor at Duke University, have extended this model of signaling to include something
economists typically ignore: the implications of grades. Daley and Green 2010

When students cheat on exams, it’s because our school system values grades more than students value learning.”
No one sentence rings truer or clearer about the status of education than that single quote.

Even for a system as homegrown and nurturing as Davidson County, my experience as a graduating senior is that
thirst for a letter grade has always far exceeded the thirst for actual knowledge. Complacence has always
triumphed over true endeavors. Hollow titles such as “valedictorian” or even “UNC 2018″ have always held a
dearer spot in students’ hearts than the search for passions, which make life worthwhile.

Ask a student what their GPA is. Ask them what their class rank is. Ask them what prestigious college they got into.
Then, ask them what their passion is. Ask them about their career choices. Dig into the details and find what truly
lights their heart on fire. A select few will immediately light up and talk about their love for creating music, their
desire to help people through medicine, their passion for crafting poems eyes may never see, or even their nirvana
found in programming hundreds of lines of code. However, the large majority will never answer with a spark in
their eye. Dig deeper and ask them about stuff they’ve learned in class in the previous semesters. A lot of students
have no idea what they’ve learned if they’re not having to use that knowledge. I know if you asked me about
chemistry right now, I’d probably have a hard time giving you a sufficient answer.
While I certainly consider it OK to sometimes forget things, it seems like we forget everything. We barely glide
through high school. Somehow, through sheer brute force work, we have conned our way into a four-year college
and graduation. Moreover, what’s really concerning is that we are supposed to be the “top of our class,” the “best
and brightest.”

After you’ve asked the students all these questions, look at where these questions have led you. For the vast
majority of students, they’ve made it through classes where they don’t remember anything they’ve learned to
achieve hollow titles that then allow them to go to a college where they are supposed to be groomed to chase
after their life’s passion — a passion that is virtually nonexistent, because their entire high school life, they have
just been chasing their tail to get into college in the first place.

Personally, I respect any person who makes it their life’s work to teach anyone, especially teenagers. Teenagers
are a rowdy bunch and, often, when life gets in the way, it’s hard to be an inspiration to teenagers every single
day, year in and year out. At a certain point, you just want to prepare them for the exams and make sure you’ve
covered everything you need to cover.

I’ve seen many bright and capable students who could easily achieve greatness with some effort prey on the
kindness of teachers instead of actually putting in the necessary work. In my personal experience, I know of
students who would purposely take a very, very long time on tests and say they needed extra time to complete it.
The teacher would ask them to come in and finish it later, maybe after school or the next morning.

These students, the ones who search constantly in vain for titles to justify the hard work they’ve put in, would then
take advantage of the teacher’s kindness and find the answers to all the questions on the test online, then come
back in to finish the test with all the answers memorized. Some students would even lay out of class then have
their friend tell them the essay prompt from the test so they would be prepared for it when they would come in to
take it the next day.

In another case, a teacher would have students turn in homework at the beginning of class to a tray and then, after
most students had turned in their work, a few dishonest students would pull out a completed assignment from the
stack, copy the answers off it onto their own papers and return the original paper plus their own to the pile.
Hilariously, to my knowledge, the person they copied off of was actually ranked lower in the class than the main
ones doing the cheating.

Each of these students I referenced previously barely participated in anything academic outside of school, though
they had ample opportunity to do so. Then, as the final testament to the system we have created, they got into the
exact same colleges and programs as the students from the same school who didn’t cheat their way to the top.
Those involved in starting and cultivating their own personal academic pursuits, those heavily involved in
academics outside of school, ended up getting accepted to the exact same level of college as those who had
conned their way there.

There isn’t exactly one person to blame. Teachers bemoan the system but answer to the principal’s demands. The
principal does the same but answers to the superintendent, and you can honestly just keep going until you realize
that no one really wants to be in the place we are now. The students can only do so much on their own, and they
need guidance from those who have made it their life’s work to give them that guidance. Many teachers, though,
are simply burned out on trying to be the inspirational, amazing teachers you see in the movies, and the students,
still motivated to get into a good school and receive prestigious scholarships, have fallen into the path of least
resistance as they pretend to learn things to make it out ahead of everyone else. I encourage teachers to be
models for upright, moral, thoughtful, lifelong learners and seek to inspire each student that way. Those who seek
knowledge for the sake of knowledge, create art for the sake of art and reach further than their teachers ever
expected them to are a dying breed. Teachers, principals and school systems as a whole should take it upon
themselves to make this dying breed a new standard within schools, not an outlier. PAUL 2014

What You Do With Your Knowledge Is More Important Than Your Grades

Students are under an immense amount of pressure to get good grades. Whether it is for grad school, parents,
scholarships, or any other reason, every student is taught that they cannot do well in the future without good
grades.Students work themselves to the ground for these superficial grades that will disappear once employed.

Employers look for well-rounded employees that have done a variety of things. When you are 30, do you think
anybody is going to ask you what your GPA in college was? Probably not, because it has become irrelevant. School
is important and, yes grades are a part of school, but they are not everything. Somebody could have straight A’s
but have not retained any information or learned to struggle. The skills you develop are more important than
letters on a piece of paper.

More important than grades is who you are as a person.

The things you choose to do with your life are much more important than a score. As the saying goes, “Actions
speak louder than words” and there is complete truth to this. You will forever remember the people who do nice
things, volunteer their free time or do other interesting things. Do you know the grades these people get? No.
Does it make you think any less of them? No. The point is that a person is who they are because of what they do
and achieve through actions, not grades.

While in school grades are attached to your name, but they are not you.

You are more than your grades or even your major. Grades are often about getting somebody else's approval. You
do not need the approval of anybody else. You are incredible regardless of what anybody else thinks.

The skills accumulated outside of school surpass those learned within.

Yes, there are important skills that are taught in school such as time management and working with people. But
these skills can also be improved upon outside of school. Plus the activities you decide to do present a whole new
and unique amount of skills. These activities and experiences make you who you are. Your grades do not.
Everybody gets grades, which reduces their significance. Not everybody has taken the opportunities you have.

Follow your dreams.

School will likely help you achieve them or at least the people you meet through school will. But remember, you
are in control of your own life. Nothing defines or limits you.

I do not care what my grades are and neither should you. Take pride in learning. Take school seriously. Do your
best. Most importantly, do the things that make you happy.DOLEH 2017