Inspiration: Top 10 myths in education: Fantasies Americans love to believe. Larry E. Frase & William Streshly.  2000.

Myth 6: "Our practices of grouping and grading students are effective and efficient methods for meeting the educational needs of children"

My interpretation:

Grades only motivate students who are getting good grades; students getting poor grades are discouraged from trying

Grades only compare students to each other; they do not show what or how much students have learned

Doing away with grades would do away with the perceived need to cheat (ironically, an anagram of teach)

Labeling helps no one (not even the "gifted")

Teachers need to be in the business of teaching, not in the business of giving grades

If students are given free rein to master the material in their own time, they can take examinations when they are ready, not on a pre-determined standardized calendar set by age group. 

Testing specialists could prepare and administer tests, while teachers need only to teach.

Employers never look at your grades; why do we continue to tell children they are important? 

If we did away with the grading system, colleges would simply rely on their other admission criteria, such as essay entries

One of the main arguments against removing the grading system is that parents want to know how well their children are doing in school.  My response to that is parents will just have to carry on actual conversations with their childrens' teachers AND their children!  Doesn't that sound simple?

The other issue presented in this chapter is the way we group students first by age, then by some sort of achievement level.  Other authors have stated the ineffectiveness of this practice, but I have yet to see a viable alternative.  I don't think throwing students randomly into classes would be effective either.  But maybe it would.

What do you think?