According to The Atlantic, a study conducted by the University of Michigan shows that 80% of students base their self-worth on their academic success rather than valuing the learning process. Unfortunately, this statistic is a reality for several students. Nationwide, school systems incentivize students to chase the highest letter grade and GPA instead of being invested in what really matters for success–understanding the material to the best of their ability. This common value leads to a multitude of issues that ultimately misguide students’ motivations. Students should be guided to focus less on grades and more on the value of learning to provide them with the best chance of success.

Dozens of assignments, countless assessments, and extra credit opportunities–all for the grade. But how effective is making the grade the biggest motivator for students? When grades are the only consideration, it often leads to a mentality of doing minimal work for the highest possible grade. Teachers may say that grades are effective in keeping students motivated, an overemphasis on grades often leads to stress that takes away from the importance of learning. When students are solely concerned about the end result, it creates decreased interest in content and surface-level learning. When students present little interest in a topic, they often cram to learn the material at the last minute, failing to put the initial effort into learning the content.

Given that A’s and B’s are the standard for many students, once they reach their desired grade, they may stop putting effort in. For example, with their desired grade secured and one assignment to go, students will likely not put any work into understanding the material, which distracts from the focus on genuine learning. In addition, as the end of the semester nears, the rounding craze begins as students strive to obtain the next highest grade. Solely focused on their final grade, students will do all that they can to get a certain grade, failing to acknowledge that focusing on learning would benefit them even more. Instead of making students chase the grade, schools should implement a standards-based grading system where students are evaluated on the number of skills they can master, specific to each class.

But when teachers offer opportunities such as retakes and homework completion points to encourage students to boost their grades, these opportunities often diminish work ethic. Often, when presented with the option to retake, students put minimal effort in the first time around, relying on the retake. When assigned homework for completion points, most students resort to AI in order to get the maximal grade while putting in minimal effort. This takes away from the point of most homework assignments: to support learning through reinforcing new skills. Although the original goal of options such as retakes and homework completion points is to provide students with an opportunity to increase their grade, they take away from the value of a strong work ethic. This likely wouldn’t even be an issue if the emphasis weren’t placed so heavily on the grade aspect. If a love of learning was fostered over grading standards, students would understand that their education doesn’t just mean getting all A’s.

On the other hand, schools claim that earning high grades and having an adequate understanding of the subject go hand in hand, and that grades are necessary to keep students motivated. While this can be true, grades are a form of extrinsic motivation, meaning that they are an external, intangible incentive that can create pressure for high performance and can replace the internal joy of a task. In contrast, learning is an intrinsic motivator, done not for a tangible prize but for internal satisfaction and fulfillment. When grades are made a priority, students are often more interested in the reward they receive than the knowledge they could be gaining.

Although grades are important and one should always put their best effort in, the pressure and misguided incentives created by grades can be excessive. Though grades are made a priority at school, learning is what will truly stick.