More detailed and nuanced grading systems are desirable, and will give more information about the student. Many such systems are possible: the readers, upon reflection, can envision their own.
Imagine that, at the end of the semester, a student were to receive four grades: a numerical or letter grade in each of three categories — mastery of content and curriculum, work habits and completion, and ranking relative to peers — the fourth grade would consist of a narrative or commentary on the student and the student’s work.
This system would much more powerfully describe the student’s experience and achievements during the semester. Again, this is simply one of many hypothetically possible systems which would be superior to current practice.
Yet the reader is ill-advised to invest much energy into the task of imagining a better grading system, or how the current system could be improved. Change is unlikely.
In order to implement any significantly preferable grading system, agreement or consent would be required from: parents, teachers, administrators, local school boards, state-level education bureaucrats, admissions officers at colleges and universities, local voters, labor union leaders, national-level education bureaucrats, and others.
The likelihood of finding a new grading system which is both significantly better and capable of obtaining approval from the above-listed stakeholders is near zero. America is stuck with a suboptimal grading system.
In the absence of a newer and better system, admissions officers at colleges and universities develop workarounds: increased reliance on standardized testing, face-to-face interviews, each institution’s own admissions test, etc.
The current high school grading system is bad, and not likely to get better.
