G07: I&S Why do we Fight: 4. Grades

“People can learn a great deal and acquire a good education without making high grades,” the authors say, “and some students who make straight A’s may concentrate so much on getting them that they really miss their education. But grades are one of the concrete and particular things society uses to judge what you are likely to accomplish in the future. They work, however imperfectly.”

Since the 1970s, economic theorists have wrestled with the problem of education. Aside from learning and self-improvement, their models led them to conclude that the primary reason we go to school is to prove to potential employers that we would be good employees, mostly by getting as much education as possible.