Why Grade?

Initially, one may believe that grades are great! Great, in the sense that they give students direct feedback to their performance in their classes, let the students know how well they understand the material, and how they need to improve or maintain study habits (if they are doing excellently in a class). However, ever since high school I felt grades lost all of those legitimate purposes, and became material "letter" grades. You aren't a good student unless you have the "A" grades, and if you don't have the grades, your not as intelligent as the students that do. It seems like to students are more interested in acquiring that "A" grade than anything else, and that constant tests, and quizzes all assessed on a grade scale, now conflict with students abilities to focus on strictly learning class subjects matter, and not being distracted constantly by their grade. Students can relate to this example. Think of a time where you just get a test back, a scantron test. Students search their scantrons in hope of finding a "scantron error" or an eraser mistake, which triggered an incorrect answer, of course. What students don't realize is that they are victims of the grading system, that the one scantron error on a large test, doesn't make a difference in the grand scheme of their knowledge they take away from the class.