Why Are Grades More Important Than Knowledge?

“The proper occasion for outrage is not that too many students are getting A’s, but that too many students have been led to believe that getting A’s is the point of going to school” (Kohn, 1999). In the perspective of a student, the pathway to success entitles a college or university degree education and more importantly, the grades to become accepted into these competitive programs. The education system has revolved around short term results, rather than long term success and knowledge. Students have been ingrained with the notion that attaining “good grades” will lead to post-secondary and which will result in a successful life. However the only way to get these grades is if students are memorizing and regurgitating information, not learning …show more content…
Students are in constant need of validation. Validation of their rankings in class, their accompanying grades in addition to an acceptance into a post-secondary education. Students need this justification because their grades are solid proof of their success, while learning is not tangible and cannot be measured. “When "get results now" prevails over "achieve excellence," it 's very tempting to renounce our integrity”, says local New York journalist Steve Byrd. The reasoning behind this grade based society is partly because learning and knowledge cannot be used as evidence, but results and grading can. The sense of competition between peers and the obsession with comparing and ranking students against each other is a sense of proof that students are achieving. A psychotherapist from the US states that, “In general, comparison to others helps us to gain perspective. At other times, relentless comparison leads us astray. One of the most damaging comparisons reflects our obsession with academic performance (Cox, 2013).” Since students need this constant reassurance of their ranking as a student, they are more concerned with their short term, tangible grades instead of achieving learning as a