Why do letter grades and GPA systems exist?

[Dan M]

I've always wondered why my performance in school has been graded with a letter. We already have in place a precise system of performance measurement - it's already on almost every keyboard as well. That little percent sign (%). It's much more precise than letter grades and many teachers use it as the raw data for the letter grades. Wouldn't it be easer and more precise to just use a percent system?

[imported_admin]

I agree 100%...

Or wait, I agree 4.0 or A (or in some systems, A+).

[Christian]

Well I agree on half of it, rather 2.0 of it.

[3.4 [deployed]]

sounds like you'd rather just get a hug & be told "It's OK, as long as you feel good about yourself, you don't need to be judged by those silly letters" ;)

[imported_admin]

Right!

As long as we each give 100% then we should get 100% regardless of how we do on exams! We have to be fair to everyone, right? Grades discriminate!

No wait, I give about 20% "effort" and still get better grades than 99% of the rest of the class. That's not fair that I'm smart, now is it? I should only get a 20% because even though I have a 100% record on every assignment and exam, I obviously have it easier than "disadvantaged persons" and so I should be penalized. Yeah...

[L32Projekt]

Aw, come now Stefan, you're making us dumb people feel... uhhh, what's that word? Oh yeah, dumb! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[WishIHad$$$]

I half assed my way through high school and got a 3.2 GPA. It's just as fair for someone to work their *** off and get a 3.2. Their performance was the same as mine, regardless of how hard they worked.

[TheBeast]

I hate classes that allow extra credit. That is the teachers way of saying "f*ck you, I'm not gonna bump up your 79.4 or 89.4 at the end of the year because im so nice to allow extra credit"

[ellik]

Originally posted by Stefan:
Right!

As long as we each give 100% then we should get 100% regardless of how we do on exams! We have to be fair to everyone, right? Grades discriminate!

No wait, I give about 20% "effort" and still get better grades than 99% of the rest of the class. That's not fair that I'm smart, now is it? I should only get a 20% because even though I have a 100% record on every assignment and exam, I obviously have it easier than "disadvantaged persons" and so I should be penalized. Yeah...

Yikes.... sounds like Stefan is turning all Democrat on us... better lock this thread and move on.

[ReodDai]

Well actually it is right for someone that doesn't try to get a A and someone that tries their *** off to get a C. Some people can work at it all their lives and still be idiots. Ive met alot of people that can research something or read a book and not have a clue what it was about besides the basic topic. Would be like a guy reading Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and then writing the movie "A Knight's Tale".. er wait.. that happened..

[chas]

in the paper today (washington post for the locals) virginia feels that its high dropout rate is due to the SOL (Standard of Learnings) testing. some people in virginia feel that students are voluntarily leaving high school before taking the SOL test to avoid taking a test they might fail. failing the SOL will keep you from getting your diploma. of course, so will dropping out of high school. pretty smart eh?

the only real solution is to just stop testing people.

[RallyRed 98]

they also encourage those students to leave school and get their good enough diplomas so test scores will rise. kids aren't dropping out entirely on their own volition.

[chas]

if kids arent dropping out of their own volition, then who is making them drop out?

[ReodDai]

You don't make someone do anything.. you HAVE to make a choice before you make any action. Now they can give you incentive to make a choice but you can't be forced to do anything.

[Dojo2000]

Originally posted by RallyRed 98:
they also encourage those students to leave school and get their good enough diplomas so test scores will rise. kids aren't dropping out entirely on their own volition.

They told my sister not to even try to take the SAT. She was on the verge of failing.