Why Performance Levels Matter in Education

There has been an outcry going around that the school system should change their grading format that consists of letter grading to a more simple style of either pass or fail, and I'm here to share my take on both and which I think should stand. Personally I've been fortunate to experience both styles of grading, and I must say that I actually find one more comforting than the other and would prefer that. But is the letter grading style truly bad for students, and would it put more pressure on them than the pass or fail style? Below I'll state my take and why I think so.

The first style of grading I experienced or used was actually the letter grading style, and to be honest, it wasn't a pleasant experience for me as a student, seeing how I failed and the gravity at which I failed each subject back then. But then not long after that I sat for a particular exam, which I'm certain I tried my best on, but ended up failing most of the subjects, because the results only carry pass or fail. I wasn't pleased with the results, and I wished the results were displayed in the letter grading format of A-F so I could at least see how close or far away I was to the pass or fail cutoff mark.

Like we all know, in most schools scoring 50% of the subject marks and above is a pass, while a score of 49% downwards signifies a fail. In that moment I wish the letters were at least there to help me know how bad or good I was to pass the exam. And since then I actually don't look like the pass-or-fail format of grading, and I must say it's actually not good for the education system. Because if I pass, I at least want to know at what percentage I pass and not just get a pass. You can imagine having just a simple pass when you score 80%, compared to someone who scores 50%. It'll be difficult to tell you guys apart, and that's because knowing how good or bad you are can actually encourage you to do better and as well give you a clue on how close you were to beating your best.

Personally, I don't think it's ideal to scrap the letter grading format so students can know how well they pass or how terribly they perform, and that's because it'll deprive them of an opportunity to crave improvement. When you know you're so close to getting a pass, you may want to do a little bit extra just so you can improve your grade, but when all you get is fail, you won't think you're any better than someone who scored zero and ten when you obviously were only one or two scores away from getting a pass. And that's why I don't want that format to be scrapped; in my opinion, it's the best way forward to encourage students and parents and let them know their position and the amount of effort they must put in to get better.

All photos are mine.