Grades? What are they? What is their purpose? Why do we need them?

          The purpose of grades is to inform society of how you are doing intellect wise. It sets a bar for you and your standards. If you can not reach that bar you will be punished in someway.

          I would rate the current grading system a 5 out of 10. Unlike standards-based grading, it does not tell you any areas to improve on. It just tells you what grade you had gotten for that class. Standards-based grading does not tell you your grade but, it tells you how much you understand that concept. It rates it from a scale of 1-4 for proficiency.
       
            I think the accuracy of knowledge is not very good for traditional grading. Before the extra credit, the tests don't really show how much they know. I could know allot about the topic but just not show it.There have been times where I have taken a test unprepared but, I still got a good grade. There is something teachers do that is called,"Falsifying grades." An example of this is when teachers say to bring in a tissue box for 3 extra credit points on a big test. This boosts their grade when they could of failed that test so, it does not properly display intelligence.

           In my opinion we should transfer to standards-based grading. It lets you know what exactly could be improved on. For example in reading you could have to work on persuasive essays. That would tell your parents to help you out every time you have a persuasive essay.