Schools should give grades

Let's start with refutation followed by one more argument in support of my position. 1. "This is irrelevant... I am arguing for no grading system at all, not even pass/fail." I supposed the resolution could be interpreted that way. To make it easy, I won't challenge you on that point. 2. "You've misquoted me..." Not intentionally. I suppose you're right though. You think grades aren't feedback, but rather rankings. I'll keep that in mind. 3. "It is, however, merely a post hoc justification for a system that was developed for other, more pernicious, reasons." The modern public education system is based largely off of the work of secularist John Dewy. Instead of teaching the classics (formal logic, Latin, arithmetic, etc.), Dewy argued that schools need to adjust their curriculum to meet with the times. Heavily influence by Darwin, Dewy thought that education should evolve with the needs of society. Also, the public education system is modeled on the Prussian paradigm (i.e. conveyor-belt education). The system is designed to churn out workers for real-world industry, rather than academics (College was originally geared for producing academics). In effect, every student is given the same classes, same material regardless of personal interests so that conformity is present to perpetuate the workforce. Are these the "pernicious" reasons you are referring to? Con, please elucidate your point. In any case, I do not see how real-world experience is a "post hoc justification" for grading in public schools when the two (real world work and public school) have existed concurrently for over two centuries together. It is not as if one was invented to justify the other. Rather, as my historical context excerpt notes, society demanded that schools measure students' learning. Con even admitted that my real world experience argument "is a strong [one] and is difficult to counter." Given my refutation, this is probably my strongest argument so far and also the voters' best reason to vote for my side. 4. "I'll return once more to the guitar lessons metaphor." Actually, it's an analogy, not a metaphor. But I'll let that nuanced distinction slide for now. On the substance, this analogy does not take into account multiple factors to the contrary. First, some may excel through competition. Secondly, school is hardly equivalent to a rock music concert. There are exponentially less people and, moreover, the people in the classroom are not an audience. Rather, they are your peers. They're fellow students or, in this analogy, musicians. Thirdly, while some students may be so shy as to suffer in the classroom, there are alternative that still involve grading, like online school or homeschooling. 5. "[It] is still possible for a student to infer the answer from the teacher without understanding why it's right." That is the student's fault. There is a name for that: laziness. Alternatively, the politically correct term is "shallow learning". Either way, it is not the teacher's fault that some student fail to grasp objective truth. Even if the teacher is horrible at his/her job, there are still resources that the student can use to understand (i.e. his/her textbook, online sources like Khan Academy, or tutoring.) There is no excuse for a student to fail in this case. 6. "The other day I was tutoring a sixth-grade girl..." Ok. Nice anecdotal. But your student exemplifies my counterargument. She is a shallow learner. Unless she has a intellectual disability or other hindrance, she is probably lazy. She need to study until she gets it. But she is only in the sixth grade. She is young and still has the potential. Additionally, because I cannot discredit a personal story, your anecdotal constitutes no evidence in support of your side. 7. "Can you describe your ideal grading system?" That is not my responsibility. Further, doing so would shift us in an entirely different debate. Let's just debate this topic and not get sidetracked.