Imagine you are a student who has finished high school in the year 1722 and is planning to apply for a job. When you meet your employers, there is not one mention of your GPA; rather, you talk about your teacher and how they prove or disprove your competency. Your teacher would have spent a lot of time monitoring you to see if they had been able to make you competent in the subject matter. Teaching and learning are no recent phenomena, but grades truly are. Many adversaries will argue that grading systems are unnecessary, and will only discourage student growth and learning, but what they fail to realize is the tremendous potential grading systems can bring to society.

An article by the magazine, The Best Schools, gives us an insight into a reason for the recent disapproval of the grading system. "In a 2018 survey by Pew Research Center, academic pressure topped the list of stressors for teenagers(Thompson, 2022). " Academic expectations may cause a portion of students to be discouraged from learning, which has the possibility of decreasing academic achievement. This most likely happens when teachers and administrators put heavy emphasis on maintaining expectations.

Adversaries of the grading system may also argue that some students may limit risk-taking behaviors due to grading systems. According to THNK, an international leadership organization, schools should encourage perseverance. "(A)llowing students to acquire the ability to cope with failure and bounce back(“Thnk”)." This quote implies that risk-taking is important; if students don't try something new and fail, they can never indeed be resilient. Over time, adversaries will argue that grading systems have the potential to limit students' risk-taking behaviors. This is also most common when schools do not educate students on the importance of risk-taking and a growth mindset.

However, many adversaries fail to understand that grades have also proven to have profound real-world implications, due to their immense potential to benefit society. For example, grades demonstrate competency in many skills and fields. Proven competency is quite essential as it helps us avoid catastrophe. An incompetent civil engineer can construct a flawed bridge or building that can collapse, killing many people. An incompetent doctor can administer fatal medicines that will kill patients. An incompetent business leader is more likely to make deadly corporate decisions, causing corporations to fall and leaving thousands of people unemployed.

Another benefit grading systems serve is that they encourage hard work and equity. "(G)rades play an important role in the allocation of distributive goods(“Philosophical Disquisitions”)." Imagine a family where poverty has been passed down for many generations. One day, one of the youngest teenagers can finally attend school. Determined to change their family's socioeconomic status, they start working extremely hard in high school. They get a perfect score on the SATs and a 4.0 GPA. They get into an Ivy League University with a scholarship and graduate with a 4.0 GPA. They get selected for a Fortune 500 company and gradually make their way up to the CEO position; they earn a multi-million dollar salary and are finally able to change their generations-long socioeconomic class(SEC). This young teenager can accomplish the generation-long dream of a better life through working hard. Through this example, we can see how the grading system can significantly influence SEC.

In conclusion, it is important to understand that schools can take active measures against the negative consequences of the grading system and that in comparison to the positive real implications the grading system can bring, in particular the improvement of SEC, I believe that all other arguments made by adversaries can easily be overlooked. It is common knowledge that the world is economically unequal; the richest 10% take home more than half of the global income. I firmly believe that one of the only ways to limit wealth inequality is to encourage education and use the grading system as a platform to improve the SEC.