Grades Schmades

For many of us, grades have been the pure motivation in passing our classes and I feel that if we were to get rid of them, I feel that it could have many advantages including us being more focused on the content rather than just m

memorizing for assessments. I think it could possibly spark more conversation, because I feel that people wouldn't be more afraid of being "wrong," because being wrong won't affect them in a grade - it would just spark further discussion.

Unintended consequences may cause the fall of this whole idea. With essentially no grades, we may start to slack because there isn't really a progress bar. If I see that I didn't submit a blog because you put a zero in the grade book, I'll think "oh shoot gotta go do that blog." If there isn't a grade to be put in, knowing me I'll just think,

"Oh well, I'll write it one day."
*narrator voice* "She never did write that blog."

The only way I can think of avoiding this drawback is to create sort of a warning system. Most people have like vague memories of the green, yellow, and red card system from elementary school. Green is like everything's going smooth, yellow is you're about to crash, and red is you're on thin ice. Basically, just make a fun little system that'll tell people not to slack off.