As many schools come to a close for this year, people have to take their report cards home to their parents and year 12 students find out how well they did in exams.

But are school grades a true reflection of a person and their life alongside their successes and how a person works and operates?

Many parents and those at school take school and exam grades akin to words and readings from the Bible and they are seen as something important to cherish as a result.

But are school grades fair - or are they simply degrading? Do they truly reflect what you are about, or are they some letters and numbers written by someone else, who doesn't understand you or knows very little about you in real terms?

Dear Nathan,

No words can describe you.
Any attempt to do so is degrading.
Any teacher who thinks they can describe you in words, is an ignorant fool.
Any words presuming to "truly reflect what you are about", constitute a ridiculously poor mirror/reflector.

Letters and numbers could only be used in attempting to estimate one's suitability to survive in the employment swamp, this they can. Regrettably, this is all some parents wish for their children, most likely because their own parents never wished more for them.

The practice is not unfair so long as it is understood to just be a practical measure for a limited purpose: it is indeed degrading IF taken out of its limited context.

No they are not degrading, they are grading.

Nathan,

Is there another way to ascertain the abilities of students other than by examination and grading?

Nathan,

School reports don't just focus on grades, they also cover most facets of a pupils personal and physical growth and not only the grades but the effort the pupil is putting into each subject.

The purpose of schooling is to teach pupils certain skills that they will need to earn a living and survive in the world. Grades tell reasonably accurately how well the pupil is learning these skills, and whilst poor grades may be embarrassing, they at least provide the opportunity to fix problems.

The last thing anyone wants is for a pupil to leave school unequipped to find any work other manual labor.

Actually, the 'gradings' are probably crap also. So bad have education and teaching standards become, that the poor performance of students have to be hidden. Why do you think so many foreign students flock to Australia? Because they get free passes, even when they can barely understand English. It's all about money and Marxists teachers unions.