Grades do not know what a student knows

Grades are supposed to evaluate what a student understands and where they are in a class, but are they truly accurate? The purpose of receiving an education is to learn, not to worry about a grade. Imagine you have a test tomorrow. You go home and spend time studying, take the test and after that, what do you remember? Your grade shows how much you can remember for a test or assignment, not your actual knowledge about a topic.  

Students tend to focus more on their grade than what actually matters: learning the information. School is supposed to teach skills and provide knowledge, but by labeling everything with a number or letter, students no longer care about what they retain, they just want a good grade. Grades shouldn’t label how much you know about something. 

Not all students are good test takers or good writers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t understand the concepts they are learning. Those things shouldn’t determine whether a person is failing a class or not. Instead, teachers should be asking students and encouraging them to give feedback and ask questions.