Ummm… This pic makes a nice sound bite, but I do not agree. Yes, a 2.0 student can definitely know more than a 4.0 student. Bright, disobedient students can be experts at hiding knowledge and understanding.

However, I feel compelled to observe that there are damn few 4.0 students who are not ahead of most of their peers academically. Low grades may not reflect true understanding. But a consistent accumulation of high grades over time does reflect understanding. Even if a few teachers in the mix don’t have high standards, or reward quantity over quality, “A” after “A” after “A” across the years can be used as a reliable measure of academic excellence.

When we stop trying to measure and define academic excellence, we will have truly fallen down the rabbit hole. Grades don’t determine intelligence? Of course, they don’t. Grades are merely a measuring tool. But grades remain one of our best tools for determining understanding, despite their flaws.

I’d also like to observe that obedience in a classroom may serve the common good, even if that particular behavioral trait has inexplicably fallen out of fashion.