A friend of mine, who doesn’t go here, was telling me how she wrote an essay for a class. The professor said she did an excellent job.

But she only got a B. Confused, she asked how he could think it was so excellent yet only give it an 89.

Why? He announced he only gave A’s for outstanding work.

I disagree with this type of logic when it comes to grading. Not just for essays either, but anything: food, video games, movies, etc.

When it comes to subjective grading, something not like a multiple choice test, what’s the point of a letter or grade being on the scale if it’s not attainable?

That would be like a scale that advertised being able to handle up to 250lbs but really stopped at 200lbs. It’s just misleading.

For example, it baffles me when a video game website gives a game a perfect score and people freak out. People post things like “How can this game get a 10? No games perfect!”

No, it just means it exceed expectations, had minimal flaws and was truly outstanding.

That doesn’t mean reviewers shouldn’t hand out 10/10 all willy-nilly. There is a difference between a 9 and a 10 even though both are A’s.

But getting a perfect score shouldn’t be like finding a unicorn either.

Having high standards for grading things is fine, but making a higher grade virtually unattainable is completely unfair.

Going back to the school, if no students are meeting your expectation then it’s the grading that’s flawed.

For example in 4th grade I took a test with my class, which everyone failed. Everyone.

Even the known smartest girl at school only got a D. Something’s wrong with that.

I understand the intent of making A’s hard to get.

You want people to really, really push themselves and not just settle for good enough.

But there’s a limit to that.