FIAE 7, 8, 9, &10

Grades are a huge issue in education that is under constant debate, and this is a lot of what these chapters were about. How to grade fairly is something that teachers have to face every day. Because every student is different, and living under a different situation, how they should be graded can be extremely varied, but the educator needs to do this while continuing to hold the entire class to the same standards. There are also huge variations in what teachers grade on; some grade more on effort, while others grade very strictly on every aspect of classroom life. There is a lot of agreement that the grading system is very flawed, as it doesn't accurately depict all that a student knows, or the person that a student is.
I know that in math, for example, I tried so, so hard and I still did terribly, I even failed algebra II because I just could not understand it. It looked terrible to my parents though, because they had a really hard time believing that I was trying if I was doing so poorly, it was my only bad class so they assumed that, if effort could get me good grades in every other class, I must not be putting effort into math. When I got to senior year and was working on making up the grade with a different teacher, I actually did really well because the teacher was amazing a differentiating the lesson to help me understand.
Anyway, grading systems should be more holistic. There was a lot of talk about grading on preparedness and attendance, and while these are important things, I think it is crazy to base student performance on that. The teenage years are really hard on kids, and whether they have a pencil or their notebook is not always their biggest life concern. I know that I never remembered anything that I was supposed to bring to class, and the teachers that were okay with that and helped me find ways to rectify whatever I'd forgotten were consistently the ones that I respected, adored, and learned from the most.
Grading is obviously important, and I'm all for a 100-point scale, I think students do need to be challenged and reminded why they're in school to some extent, but grades should absolutely never be used as something that makes a student feel less than they are, like they're stupid, or like trying is not ever going to be good enough. If grading could be in a place where they inspire students, and guide them through a beautifully whole education that really allowed them to master the information regardless of  how the attain it. There are students that may be poor test-takers, or not great at writing answers and I really do not believe that giving these students one opportunity to show me that they understand the information and giving them no chance to fix mistakes they may have made in exhibiting their knowledge, is a good way to encourage students to put in the effort to learn.