Should Schools Ditch Letter Grades?

After elementary school, I went to a middle school with kids from many different educational backgrounds. I quickly discovered that I was less prepared for the work than many of them. Another student could study for an hour and get an A on a test, while I had to study all night to get that same A. It didn’t seem fair. That’s why I think grades should be replaced by a more comprehensive evaluation of the student as a whole. A single letter can’t convey enough information about how hard a student worked or what their true strengths are.

Grades are useful only for calculating a student’s grade point average, or GPA. If a student is passionate about science and excels at math but isn’t good at art, their GPA might be a 3.0, while a student who has little passion for anything might get the same GPA. How can you tell, looking at that number, which student is more invested in their education? How can you tell which student has the greater capacity to make an impact on the world? A more equitable system would be pass/fail combined with written evaluations that take into account each student’s circumstances and reward effort as much as achievement.

Supporters of the grading system say that grades inspire you to do your best. But grades make students work for a reward, rather than the satisfaction of mastering the material. This system might motivate high-performing students who can earn all A’s, but it can have the opposite effect on students who aren’t as strong academically. In fact, grades can be demotivating: According to a study published in the journal Assessment in Education, students who struggled in school in seventh through ninth grades and received poor grades were less likely to graduate from high school than students who struggled but didn’t receive letter grades.

Finally, I believe grades impede students’ curiosity to try out new subjects without the fear of negatively affecting their GPA. Students shouldn’t be defined by a letter or number grade during their adolescent years, and a pass/fail system, combined with comprehensive evaluations, is the answer.

Toward the end of the last school year, my school implemented a pass/fail grading system. Instantly, my entire approach to schoolwork changed—and not for the better. Without the looming pressure of a letter grade, I started spending less time on schoolwork because I knew I would be able to pass by just doing the bare minimum. Now, as my teachers build on the information that I should have devoted more time to studying last year, I’m feeling the repercussions of my actions and struggling to keep up. This is why schools should not go to a pass/fail system: Grades force us to take our learning seriously.

I know that being graded on your work is not always pleasant, since there’s the chance you’ll get a worse grade than you want. But like it or not, grades are the most effective way of letting students know where they struggle and where they shine. If a student merely receives a “Pass” on a test or paper, they can’t know if they fully absorbed the material or just squeaked by. A pass/fail system puts kids into just two pools, but grades provide a clear picture of our performance.

Opponents of letter grades in school argue that the grading system places too much pressure on kids to perform. I would argue that grades prepare students for real life: Most colleges have grades, and many companies award raises and promotions based on review systems where employees receive the equivalent of grades. It’s a fact of life that we’ll be evaluated throughout our lives, so we might as well learn how to handle it now.

If schools get rid of grades permanently, a lot of kids will opt for just passing instead of developing a clear understanding of the material. Would you push yourself to study as hard as you could for a test if you knew students doing half that amount of work would likely get the same “pass” as you? Probably not, but in the end, you’d just be cheating yourself. Having experienced both the pass/fail and traditional grading systems, I believe that letter grades serve a dual purpose: showcasing our strengths and helping us target our weaknesses so that we can grow. We may not always like them, but grades show us where we really stand and make it harder for us to slack off.