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Making grades meaningless so that everyone advances is doing a disservice to kids' education.
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this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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This would've been a godsend to me tbh. I was really bad about completing buzywork homework assignments but I paid attention in class and already understood the material. In high school I'd ace every test and wind up with a C or worse because of the number of missing assignments, it wasn't even intentional, I just frequently forgot about them because they weren't interesting and probably because of some kind of undiagnosed neurodivergence. Of course, there are also kids who might struggle to complete assignments due to complicated home lives.
I don't think making an incomplete count as a 50 is really making grades meaningless. A 50 is still going to hurt you, it just doesn't drag your grade into oblivion. If a student gets 100 on three assignments and misses a fourth, is a grade of 75 really the most accurate representation of how well they understand the material? Counting the incomplete as a 50 would make that an 87.
Sprinkling in zeros can really drag your grade down and can make it feel like your grade doesn't really have much to do with your understanding of the material, and has more to do with being willing and able to work outside of school hours (or to just copy down answers from a friend five minutes before class, which I also didn't do).
The wider point is that grades are already meaningless.
It's so sad that people here believe that some imaginary meritocracy is being destroyed.
Rather than giving students points for not doing assignments why not just not have busywork assignments. Just make the grades an even 50% tests and 50% large projects unless the student needs their busywork graded.
I was in the same situation as you (except I did wind up diagnosed with ADHD in my 20s). I aced all my tests and never did homework so was constantly on the verge of failing classes. I always hated having to do the same repetitive memorization busy work when I already knew the info. The best teacher I had in highshool had a rule where they would only ever grade your homework if doing so would improve your overall grade. So because I did well on the tests, in class work, and biger projects I never had to actually do any homework. It's the only class I ever scored over 100% in because I aced every test and did one extra credit project. Why the hell should anyone have to waste their time doing pointless busywork and waste their teachers time grading that pointless busywork when it isn't benefitting their learning in any way. If the student doesn't need it then just skip it. The only reason I can see for it is to desensitize students to doing pointless busywork jobs but we should be eliminating those jobs not conditioning the next generation for them.
Yeah, although tbf some people struggle with tests and for them homework brings up their grade, and it might help some people learn. But I 100% agree that it ought to be optional and shouldn't be able to tank your grade if you demonstrate an understanding of the material.
I can sympathize with people who work hard and still score poorly on tests. But if someone's a quick learner and they're motivated by learning then naturally they're going to put in less effort once they understand the subject, and making grades a reflection of effort rather than understanding feels unfair to people like us.
Exactly. Like I get that some people learn slower or some even just have a mental block when the word test is used even if they know the material. So for them homework is important. But if it's not actually benefiting a student then why punish them for not doing it? The system my one teacher had where homework wasn't graded unless the grade would help your overall grade seemed to work really well but it could probably be improved a bit because it did primarily just benefit those who were good at tests.
The best solution would probably just be something along the lines of having the grade be made up 4 point pools; tests, projects, classwork, and homework. Then just have the overall grade for the class be an average of the top 3. As long as you're doing well in 3 of those pools then you clearly know the material. Some students struggle with homework for already stated reasons. Some students lock up on tests even though they know the material. Some students have a disruptive homelife that inhibits their ability to work on larger projects. Some students have health or family issues which frequently keep them out of class. With this solution, none of those students would be punished for one of those issues alone provided they can still demonstrate in the 3 other areas that they know the material.
tbh, it probably also benefitted the teacher because they didn't need to grade as many papers and may have benefitted the other students because they may have gotten more targeted feedback on their homework (because the teacher had more time)
Exactly. It also gives students the ability to improve and not just give up.
Let's assume 10 assignments determine your grade in a class. You completely skip the first 4 assignments and get 0%. If you completely turn around and score 100% on the next 6 assignments, your overall grade is 60% and you fail the class.
But! If you were the student who skipped the first 4 assignments, what incentive do you have to even try and improve?
The 50% score is to give students without hope a chance. If it's college level, sure maybe failing is the best option. But high school? Middle school? Even younger? Give kids a chance to improve.
Assignments are not evidence of learning. Assignments are pressure for students to learn. They are motivation to spend time acquiring knowledge and practicing skills expected to be acquired from the class.
For students who master this knowledge and skill without that pressure, assignments are distractions from further study. They force the student to expend time and energy on previously-mastered material, rather than allowing them to focus on unmastered subjects or additional classes.
If I were building a grading rubric, I would say that the test score at the end of each unit is the minimum score recorded for any assignment in that unit. My tests would be killers: I would target 80% raw scores, but final test scores would be on a curve, with the median score being recorded as an "A".
Score a 100% raw score on a unit test, and every assignment for that unit is raised to 100%. The student has demonstrated complete mastery of the subject matter; any grade less than 100% does not reflect their true capability.
Score an 80% raw score on the unit test, and every assignment for that unit is at least an 80%. A 95% assignment stays a 95%, but a 45% assignment is counted as 80%. Missing assignments are counted as 80%, not 0%.
I would go further: the raw score on the final exam replaces every lower grade in the grade book. You ace that indomitable horror of a final exam, you ace the class, regardless of how much effort you put in.
This is called grading for equity. It is really hard to do with short attention kids needing instant gratification. The question "is this graded?" being asked for every assignment shows their mindset. If you carefully explain that they will improve the tested skill with the practice, they lose all interest and score poorly on assessment if they even try. The learned need for progress points stymies equitable grading. The majority of students see schooling as a grind for points. They want to earn just enough points to level up without actually retaining skills so they can get back on TikTok.