The grading system that is used most prominently in the United States is failing students. In 1877, Harvard started the practice of classifying students based on their perceived merit. Students were divided into six divisions, each of which line up closely with modern letter grades. Although many systems created almost 150 years ago are now deemed archaic, this antiquated system for measuring students’ achievement has remained.

The purpose of schooling is to expose students to other fields of study but also to enhance their knowledge and mastery of necessary subjects such as basic arithmetic, history and English. As the system stands, however, mastery of a subject is not being assessed. Students are mostly tested on rote memorization of formulas and vocabulary words. Even when learning is conceptual, units often span such a short period of time that information is not truly understood. It is only retained until the test, after which, it is discarded.

Often, the only cumulative assessments that occur throughout the year are finals.  Because finals occur at the end of the semester, grades are already oversaturated with other points. The popularity of grade calculators like RogerHub demonstrates the overall uselessness of the final. When a student has an 88 percent in a class, for example, due to other assignments on which they succeeded by rote memorization, it is often unnecessary to study for the final because the grade needed to maintain one’s class status is so insurmountably high or low that studying is deemed useless. In this way, mastery of content is not only unnecessary but often discouraged as students are encouraged to focus on the classes in which their grades are in jeopardy.

The focus that school, as an institution, places on grades detracts from the stated purpose of the education system: understanding content. Not only are students told to study solely to obtain a grade, they also receive instruction that is catered to assessments. Performing well on unit, final, AP, placement and standardized tests, and otherwise earning good grades, is considered the only way to obtain a successful future. Because of this, students and teachers alike often cut corners in the name of test preparation. The days of students possessing enough intrinsic motivation to attempt to understand material simply for the sake of obtaining knowledge are long gone. Instead, hearing phrases such as “this will be on your test” elicits the complete disregarding of all other course material.

As a society, we have corrupted the education system by misplacing our values on high grades and assessment scores. However, instead of changing societal values, which often takes a remarkably long time, we should focus on remodeling the education system and hope that our values follow suit. Instead of seeing an earned grade as a definitive assessment, we should view learning through the lens of a growth mindset. When students do not perform well on tests or homework, we should allow for corrections in the name of content mastery., not just earning a better grade. Our grading system should not be based on students’ statuses but instead on how they have grown.