I was thinking about Tom Sterner’s note of the conundrum of actual learning versus the grades-based culture of modern education. How if a 2.0 and a 4.0 GPA go up against each other for the same job, the job will go to the 4.0 every time because the 4.0 represents to our product-based society the most potential.

On the other hand, if the 2.0 had focused on learning what they needed to learn, learning to live in the process, but not scoring well, they’d have nothing to show for the fact that they knew more and were better long term learners than the 4.0.

It’s presented as a paradox, but the more I think about it, it doesn’t matter. Maybe it matters to the hiring party, but functionally, having learned to live in the process, the 2.0 is better off in a thousand different ways, including self-sufficiency and quality of life and presence.

Are they really disadvantaged? They actually know how to do things. They know stuff. They are enjoying the process, and that always attracts attention.

I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s all that dire. That’s all I’m saying. Would that we could do away with the grade system in favour of, you know, actual learning, and I think we’d all be better off.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1287 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Against The Fall Of Night, Arthur C. Clarke
Comics: Spartan: Warrior Spirit 2-3, Grifter 4-5
Music: Fixed, Nine Inch Nails