How do you measure the skill of a man?
Because I passed a class, that means I can?
‘Cause I mastered writing, I can teach it?
I got a Master’s in some things, so I can speak it?

For a school to work functionally, the students within have to have a desire to learn. If a student does not want to learn, they won’t. To counter this problem, a long time ago, schools all around the globe started implementing the use of percentages and points. These percentages and points are put into a grade. “A” being above standards, and “F” being a failure. School argue that the grades function as a way to give an update to the student and their family in how they’re doing in school. This is partially true, grades do serve as a way for a student and their family to understand how he/she is doing in class. But, despite this side, the main purpose of grades in education is to scare students into trying in school.

And using fear as a motivator is morally wrong.

Students are told at a very young age that they need to succeed in school so they can get into a good college. Then get a well-paying job. Then live comfortably and financially stable for the rest of their working lives and retire. If students aren’t taught as much, they learn pretty quickly once into grade school. This type of thinking puts young students in a challenging situation. Students are constantly given a choice between helping to secure their future and doing what makes them happy in the present. Most students will fear what the future might hold and will do their school work, making them temporarily unhappy. Some students, though, will decide to do what makes them happy now. These are the students that most of us consider “bad” or “unruly.” What if the “bad” students are actually just “living in the now” as it’s called. Meaning they’re not worried about what happened in the past or will happen in the future. They want to make sure that they’re having the best time they can.

Grades don’t make any sense. We’ve all been brainwashed in a way. The original idea behind education and universities was to education was to do just that, educate. It was the job of the teacher to get the students to a point where they can understand all of the content. Slowly but surely throughout the ages, the responsibility of teaching the students has been shifted onto the students. Why are students being tested and graded on their ability to absorb content that the teacher provides? Because of this release in responsibility on the part of the teachers, teachers are becoming more and more lazy. Relying more and more on grades to pressure students into reading textbook, studying endless passages, and memorizing worthless facts. Teachers don’t need to teach anymore. They can give reading, assign chapters and give tests. Doing all of this while sitting behind their desk online. Teaching should not be a desk job.

Learning is a very natural and amazing feature of life. We spend a good part of our adolescence learning. We don’t learn because it’s “required” or “we need to” we ;earn because we genuinely want to. This isn’t some of us, this is all of us. We learn to speak, walk, the beginnings of reading and writing asking for no reward or grade. This way of learning obviously works since just about all of us are experts on walking and speaking. We lose this lust for learning as soon as we start school. Learning is now required and as a result, a chore. Soon teachers start punishing for an inability to learn, and rewarding for exceptional learning ability. By the time you’ve reached grade school you and your classmates are in the mindset that school is a hassle and learning isn’t worth all of the hard work.

Being the 8th grade student that I am, my opinions are often overlooked as biased. Someone my age generally won’t be taken seriously when it comes to debate about school. Why is this? Adults have forgotten all about their time in school, just as I’ve forgotten my time in preschool. Not to mention all the nostalgia clouding what memory thier going to have left. People around my age are in the middle of the system, and able to see all the wrongs with it. Grades are the most stressful part of a young person’s life. It’s easy to forget feelings like stress when you’ve grown past those times. It’s why people older people tend to wish they had taken more risks in their lives. It’s why older teachers are more pro-grades while you see younger teachers being against the grading system.

The system doesn’t work. Grades are ruining our young and our education system. There needs to be a major change in the way things are run in schools, and this change needs to happen soon. Or I fear for the future of our race.

Honestly, what does a letter say?
In no way does it reflect my capabilities
It can never say that I don’t have an ability
It’s a worthless way to measure worth
That’s why the system in place just don’t work