No one can deny that we exist (students and teachers) within a system where we are required to measure students' abilities and knowledge and to report this via letter grades.
My concern is that students will place too much importance on these grades and test results. Students agreed that their self worth was related to their success or failure in school. Students who have a hard time in school become discouraged by repeated failure and struggle to see the larger picture. The true goal of education is to learn and to grow, to overcome challenges, to persevere and to gain skills that will prepare us for our future.
The video shown below gives a refreshing perspective. I feel the need to add a word of caution. It would be easy to take this message too literally and to ignore the value of our educational system. When it comes down to it - what you get out of it is proportional to what you put in to it... The harder you work, the more you focus, the more you will gain. This may not always be reflected in scores or grades. What you've gained may not be evident until years down the road.
I did not show this video in class, but it was the inspiration for the discussion we had in class, which I believe was valuable.
