By Andrew Chan
Grades have been around for ages. They are literally ingrained into the system of school. Ever since children were in elementary school, they had to deal with grades, whether it was in the form of letters or numbers. They are used by teachers, to measure and label the knowledge children have on a specific topic. But, are grades really useful?
In my opinion, grades aren’t helpful at all. In fact, I feel as if grades are a problem to a student's success and well being. One reason why is because grades induce stress and promote competition against students to get the highest grades. Ditching grades will level the playing field a bit more, for children with less advantages. Ditching grades will also allow kids to take ownership for their own knowledge.
The grading system is also not that informative and doesn’t really help people who have bad grades. Instead, people with bad grades feel more discouraged. Good grades usually reward kids, and elevates those who are already strong in their learning abilities. In the end, grades are just a mean way of seeing what students are capable and incapable of doing.
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