What do you think your educational experience would have been like if it didn’t include being graded on everything? Do you think grading helps a student learn better? Do you think all learning can be graded? Do you think it is possible to objectively grade a student’s work?

The word grade is used to refer to the rank, quality, or proficiency of something or someone. We buy a certain grade of beef or we call something a “B movie.” The concept of grades is used in institutional schools in two related ways. First, it is used to rank students according to level of current study, which we commonly associate with age, but grade level is also considered a measure of intelligence by most people. Consider the stigma for being “held back” a grade.

The second use of grades is for scoring the assignments a student is supposed to complete. I say “supposed to” because if they don’t complete the assignment they still get graded with a score of zero. Too many people assume too much about grades. It is very helpful to ask what giving grades is supposed to accomplish and if giving grades does what people think it does.

Grades are a symptom of the impersonal nature of institutional schools. They are an to attempt to evaluate how much students are learning and to pass that evaluation on to others in the system. Grades are also used to try to motivate students to learn by rewarding them with scores and rankings that may result in social standing or preference in college application.

Consider if you knew a young person who had somehow studied under an engineer that was known and respected in the community. It doesn’t really matter what the form of this studying was. It may have been some on-the-job experience, it may have included some assigned readings, and it may have included various experimental projects. Whatever it was, if that engineer at some point recommended that young person for a job, it wouldn’t matter if they had a record of grades for all of that.

What would matter is if the engineer was willing to stake his reputation on the recommendation. Maybe he could talk to the prospective new employer or write up a summary of what was experienced and built, but the relationship would imply a level of mastery over the subject necessary for a new employee entering the field. He might as well give the student all “A’s” for that is what his recommendation is implying unless he specifically indicates otherwise.

This is a description of tutoring. With tutoring, the student is taught what they need to know until they know it. Then they can move on to the next level of learning associated with the subject. If they haven’t learned what they need to well enough, then moving on to the next level is going to lead to frustration at every level thereafter. The goal is retention and application of the knowledge or skill. Grades are basical