in a round-about kinda way

so i was thinking (like ya do) why do grades in college mean so much? why would they have grades at all? it should either be "hey, you made it through the obstacle course" or "sorry dude, try again next year." but that was before i thought about it.

the case against grades of any kind: college encompasses a voluntary test of your ability to succeed under duress during THE most vulnerable and turbulent time of your life. for some its the first taste of independence, the first taste of actual love, of being loved, the first taste of real failure, the first taste of power and success, of being wanted, or all of those things. for others its being truly alone, or sad without consolation. having to take care of yourself and stay focused and organized and clean without anyone forcing you. for others its having to make your own decisions and suffer or revel in the consequences on your own. its picking your friends and picking wisely. picking your crimes. setting your budget. paying your bills.

its the most difficult time of every 15 16 17 18 years old life. the hardest 4 5 6 and 7 years of their life. why heap grades on top of that? grades divert from the real learning. grades shift learning how to live on your own and make it to having your parents handle the important things while you pound out As and Bs and memorize things you dont need to know or care about just so you can land a job you dont really want doing things you dont care about but are good at cuz your grades were nice. so hey, why learn about yourself when you can pack yourself full of pages and pages and pages...

and hey, who cares if youre still mentally 15 16 17 or 18 when you graduate. who cares if you cant handle yourself when you leave with your diploma. who cares if you melt down in graduate school. who cares if your parents still have to take you by the hand every week cuz you still cant quite stand up on your own. the world doesnt care when your world eventually falls apart for one underdeveloped reason or another. but good grades! i dont understand how he fucked up his life so bad, he was such a good student in college.

grades are not a function of success.

but now the case for grades: college is the most turbulent and vulnerable time of a person's life. how they handle that pressure is a testament to how they will handle later pressures in life and the only way to see to what degree they might handle that pressure is to give degrees to how they perform, hence grades.

grades are not a function of success, but they are a metric of dilligence. and that counts for something.


grades are a terrible idea, but still necessary. too much happens aside from grades for the majority of people in college. but for those who handle the difficulty ON THEIR OWN and still get good grades... they dont deserve to have that taken away from them, ever. for those who handle the difficulty ON THEIR OWN and dont get grades... they dont deserve to have that held against them as they take on future challenges. for those that are spoon fed, whose only challenge is getting good grades... pass or fail them, but dont hold them up for doing what others have done with a lot less help.