Grading systems based on numbers and letters are what we’ve all come to know in American education. As and Bs are common terms known nationwide as a way to display a student’s understanding in a class, but how much do these letter grades really measure a student’s intelligence? Personally, I think there are several reasons why letter grades are not an accurate source for measuring a student’s understanding. There are so many different factors going into a student’s final grade that you can’t solely rely on a letter to demonstrate a student’s full understanding.
I believe there’s a lot more to a story than simply what a letter grade shows. Aspects like effort, attendance, issues in a student’s personal life, learning disabilities and several other things should all be taken into account before judging a student solely by their letter grade. A student’s letter grade does not fully measure how much knowledge they’ve actually taken away from a class. Also, when letter grades are used to measure a student’s intelligence, it can create a sort of hierarchy where students may begin to feel less than compared to their peers, despite how much effort was put into the course, or personal issues that accounted for their final grade.
Having a passion for a subject, a desire for more knowledge and question-provoking material are all great things that should be encouraged for students. Unfortunately, a lot of times, classes that inhabit these narratives and expand deeper into knowledge are deemed as difficult, steering students away. Students should be able to feel comfortable joining the courses that interest them without the fear of classes being too hard or causing their GPAs to drop. I believe that students should also be able to struggle more in classes that test their knowledge and critical thinking, rather than just getting an easy A in a course that ultimately doesn’t interest or teach them as much.
On the contrary, getting an A in a class doesn’t always mean a student even fully understood all of the class material. Oftentimes, students will memorize facts for a test, and then once they’ve received their letter grade, they will forget all the knowledge they’ve obtained. I can say for myself, the classes that I’ve most easily gotten an A in are the ones that I either didn’t learn as much, or remember the least. Struggling while learning something new is one of the best ways to really understand and remember it for a longer period of time. Of course, every class will have its challenges, and any student is capable of receiving an A regardless of how difficult a class is. However, a lot of the time it serves students better to participate in a course that will challenge their abilities and potentially perform slightly worse, than simply receiving an A in a class that doesn’t push a student’s understanding.
In conclusion, letter grades can be a helpful tool to briefly describe a student’s experience when taking a course, but they should be taken with a grain of salt and never used as a way to label a student’s personal intelligence. The final grade a student receives in a class does not tell the full story of their learning experience, or how much knowledge they’ve actually taken away from a course, so it should not be used as a symbol to demonstrate that. Exploring classes that interest you and challenge you should be more of a priority than simply taking classes in order to excel perfectly.
