TED Conversations  Andrew Hecht  This conversation is closed.
Start a new conversation or join one »  Should public schools in
the United States eliminate the traditional A to F grading
scale? And if so, what assessment do we replace it with?  In 5
months, at the age of 21, I will be graduating college from the
University of Florida. Yet, it wasn't until recently that I
began to realize how distorted my view of education has been for
past 15 years of my life. From childhood, we are commonly
"taught" (and indoctrinated) that when we receive "good grades",
we are "good people" and "good students." Consequently,
beginning around kindergarten, a child's self worth is defined
on an "A" to "F" scale. From the perspective of a child, an "A"
student is "good" and an "F" student is "bad".  This belief
entirely distorts the real purpose of education. We are commonly
driven to learn not for the sake of learning; but instead, we
are motivated by the almighty grade. Growing up, rather than
reading books for fun or curiosi