i keep tying to convince my students that grades don't matter. meeting goals matters a ton, and learning matters a lot, but our grades are shitty ways of measuring that.

i'd feel differently if the grading scales allowed for meaningful evaluation...but as it is, there are too many unwritten rules and assumptions.

i know i learned by far the most in my life (and got the best feedback) during my freshman year of college (everything was pass/fail but we received shadow grades) and in my honors seminars (there were grades but they didn't matter because you needed a decent gpa to get in and the honors examination/recommendations were more relevant for phd programs).