Are Grades Necessary?

We are 7 years old, we start going to school, and our first grades appear. If they are good, we are happy; what is more, our parents are happy. If they are bad, we are disappointed with ourselves; it even can go worse – we start to dislike learning. Let us pretend that we liked learning in the school, we graduated, and the university studies came to our lives. And grades again! Just now, hopefully, we look quite differently to them. If they are good, we are probably proud of ourselves; if they are bad, we become more concerned and try to do our best. As we can see, grades do impact our lives. But is this right? Could not it be better living without any grading system?

There are plenty pres and cons about the grades, still I believe grades are necessary. It is like an award for a child, stimulation for a teenager, and evaluation for a student. Grades in different levels of life have different roles. And every role is important.

Let us imagine a child, who attends primary school. Very first year the child has no idea what is the thing he or she should start to learn for. Every child likes to be complimented, especially when it comes to what they have done. The instrument for evaluation and commending is grades. On the other hand, in this stage grades are necessary for parents to see how their child performs at school. I remember having a grades’ book, where teacher used to write the grades and then we were supposed to bring it for our parents to show. That is one way for parents to control their child, to notice if something wrong happens, or predict wrong things and try to avoid them.

Years pass on, the imaginary child grows up and now we arrive to the teen years. This is the period when girls and boys do not care what grown-up people say, the friends are the best judges, and learning is far from being at least somewhat interesting. And here grades give a hand. In this stage grades’ role is to motivate teenagers for learning. They should pass their exams and try to do as good as they can for they want to graduate the school with a nice certificate. Moreover, that nice certificate will affect their future lives for it displays their knowledge.

One may say grades are not playing that big role in motivating or commending in everybody’s life. Of course, there always will be children who like to learn reading and writing, as well as teenagers who will be interested in studying history, geography, mathematics, or some other subjects taught at school. And here I would say – there are no rules without exceptions, which only prove the rule. Actually, you cannot be interested in all the things taught at school. Therefore, for not missing some very important information in subjects one does not like, he or she is evaluated and that motivates one increase his or her knowledge in other, undiscovered, fields.

Some day our imaginary character begins realizing what he or she wants from life, and as the life flow goes on the character becomes a student. Why does he or she need grades now? The student should be mature enough to understand why to study, and what is wanted to be achieved. But the person cannot evaluate oneself in perspective. Here, once again, come the grades. And then the student can make conclusions about his or her work – success or failure. Did he or she expect more from oneself? Can he or she work harder? Was it exactly the level the student was hoping to reach? Was it even better? These questions can be answered with the help of grades. Moreover, as the conclusions can be done, the better results can be achieved in the future.

Furthermore, grades are really necessary for others to know how good you are at one thing or another. This is very important when you apply for a job, or when you go to a new place to study. It can be obviously seen which field fits best for you, and which field you are not very good at. In this case, you should be given a job which perfectly corresponds to you. I exclude one’s desires, for I think nobody applies for a job he or she does not like, until there is an opportunity to choose.

On the whole, grades are definitely necessary for the people. It does not matter whether you are a little child, or an adult person. It is a way for knowing which level you have achieved so far. It is an opportunity to see oneself externally.