Grade Obsession

As soon as I submit the final grades for each semester I receive emails from disappointed students. There are those who failed the course asking what they can do to pass the course now that it is over. I often hear from the “B+” students who are upset that they did not earn an “A.” What I have always counted on is not hearing from my “A” students. After all, what reason would they have to complain? Hence my surprise when the first two emails I received after the grades were posted for this semester came from “A” students inquiring why they did not get an “A+.” When I was a student I wouldn’t have dared to question a professor about an “A” grade. I would have feared the professor would have discovered that the “A” was given to me by mistake and that I had actually flunked the course. Not only did my two students question the lower “A,” but one student was not satisfied with my first explanation and continued to press his case—to no avail. Both students were genuinely interested in the course subject and committed to their own learning and growth. However, at the end they could not let go of their obsession with grades. It reinforces my belief that, within the educational system, grades are the primary obstacle to learning.