[A repeat from February 10, 2021] There is a movement today for schools to drop grading systems (to reduce stress and competition among students), to eliminate the SAT (to reduce and simplify demands on students) and to drop “honors” classes (to combat academic tracking). Since some students are “not prepared” for the potential challenge of grades, some academics think it is better to eliminate the challenge. Rather than fix the problem, we simply dumb down our schools.

When it comes to math, I take off my socks and shoes to count to “20.” Math is not my strong suit. When I was a junior in high school, I was required to take a course in algebra. And I was dismal. And after a few weeks into the course – I was failing. And I continued to fail well into the semester.

My teacher – Miss Delp – approached me one day after class and asked if I wanted to fail. Obviously I did not. But understanding this stuff was very difficult for my small brain. So she made me an offer. She said that if I came in after school for tutoring – at least twice a week for the rest of the semester – she would give me a “charity D.” If by some miracle I excelled, I might even get a C minus. So I agreed.

Now for all that sank in, she might well have been teaching me in quantum physics. But I stuck to it. And thankfully, so did Miss Delp. And at the end of the semester, I was quite proud. I got a “D+” in algebra.

I believe there is merit to challenging students to excel. And to grade according to achievement and effort. When we take away incentive (to me a very important word), everyone loses. Today – I still have no clue what the product of two constants, three coefficients and a variable is (did I say that right?). But I am certainly grateful – to have been challenged mightily. And to have had the support of an extraordinary teacher who pushed me to succeed.