Schools should give grades

In my last speech, I promised to provide another argument in favor of my position. I forgot that there is a stringent character count and ran out of space. Nevertheless, here it is: 1. Grades are necessary for college and beyond. Researchers have found that GPA works in conjunction with aspiration to produce post-secondary education outcomes. [1] Thus, without grades as a differentiator and motivator, students only have their aspirations to guide them. This might sound good until it is recognized that employers rely, even partially, on grades to ascertain job applicants' merit. I have one more argument as well: 2. Grades reward hard-working students. Humans are not born the same. Each is born with different abilities and talents. Some are, quite frankly, better than others. Thus, the "A" rewards the effort of the diligent and the "F" rewards the effort of the lazy. To remove grades would be to make all students equal regardless of their input. All of them - in spite of their effort - will receive the same diploma and recognition as each other on graduation day. Without grades or standards to differentiate the achievement of students, schools will likely experience a "Race to the Bottom" problem in which all of the student compete to get by doing the least amount of work. Now, for refutations: 1. 'The grading system was not designed to prepare students for the workplace. If there is [any] similarity between the way schools and the way the workplace works, it is pure coincidence." To contrary, the grading system reflects real-world expectations insofar as annual reviews work. Employees should be well aware of the fact that they are graded on performance usually every year and that that review largely determines their salary and statues within the company. Now, compared to the classroom model, there is lots of obvious overlap. A syllabus or schedule outlines the students' responsibilities. Then, the teacher assigns a grade based on the percentage of completed tasks and the quality thereof. That grade, in turn, determines who passes the class and, ultimately, contributes to collegiate outcomes vis-"-vis the GPA. Even if it is a coincidence, it is a beneficial coincide to maintain because grades mirror real-world expectations. 2. "If grades did help children, and I don't think they do, it would be purely accidental." I made a distinction early on in this debate that Con seems to have forgotten. Grades are administrative in function. Feedback (the teachers' copious notes in the margins of your assignments) is to help students. Con confuses the respective purposes of the two is arguing that grades should be abolished because they don't help students. But that is not the primary task of grades, just as employee reviews do not necessarily help employees. 3. "In a classroom, the audience is not your peers..." Well, then, the audience is comparatively small. Those who are intimidated by teachers, colleges, etc. are relatively small as well. After all, college enrollment is at an all-time high. [2] How would that be true if everyone avoided teachers, colleges, etc.? 4. "I seemed to have countered it." Not at all. Con's counterargument was to repeat his flawed musician analogy. (See Round 3 for why it's flawed) 5. "Shallow learning is not laziness... It is success." Not so. Learning in school is cumulative, meaning that material has to be remembered for success in future classes. Thus, grades are a motivator for perpetuating retention of information. By contrast, without grades, why should students try to learn if they're going to get a diploma in the end anyway? There's no incentive anymore. Thanks for reading; I look forward to Round 5. Sources: [1] Christofides, Louis N.1, et al. "Grades, Aspirations, And Postsecondary Education Outcomes." Canadian Journal Of Higher Education 45.1 (2015): 48-82. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 6 Mar. 2016. (P. 51) [2]http://nces.ed.gov...