Can someone please tell me why the US gradeschool (even up through highschool) usesthe “A, B, C,D and F” system to grade? Why did they exclude the E?
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The simple answer is… The “F” literally stands for “Fail”. A, B, C and D are all passing grades (well, in some situations a D is not considered passing, and even a C is not passing in some courses). Everything else is just a “Fail”, or F. If “Fail” were spelled like… Zfail then it’d be a “Z” grade.
A/B/C/D are four “levels” of a passing grade.
F = Fail
In some school systems you get an “R” instead of F which means you have failed and have to “**r**epeat” that course.
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I had someone in teaching administration who designs curriculum and such tell me a “better” way to understand it, ABCDF is just shorthand. A proper method would look more like:
A = “very high level of understanding/knowledge, and performance
B = “high level of understanding/knowledge, and performance”
C = satisfactory
D = Unsatisfactory
F / Fail = failed to meet / does not meet minimum standards
This is a much better way to view it. The letters are just shorthand for a level of performance you attained. Taken, if you’re graded on a curve, this system likely would not apply, this is more for static grades.
E is not relevant as once you reach “D” you’re unsatisfactory and the only worse grade is to not meet standards, hence, F, fail. If we had E, we’d have an additional level of unsatisfactory achievement which is unnecessary.
A D allows you to assign a performance that does not fail (ie you exceeded minimum
Standards, but not by much) but indicates your did not have perform in an acceptable manner and did not learn the skills necessary. There’s not much to go down from there other than F – failed to meet minimum standards.
In many cases, D is not a passing grade as you were unsatisfactory
The letter grading system was invented in the late 1800s in Massachusetts. The earliest known letter grade is a “B” on an assignment at Harvard in the early 1880s, but there is no context left to interpret its significance. At nearby Mount Holyoke, we know in ~~1887~~1897 they gave grades of A-E, with E being a failing grade. Soon after an F was added, then soon after that the E disappeared, but no one knows why. I found some articles speculating people thought it would be misinterpreted as “excellent,” but every source is worded similarly, and none cited anything, which makes me think it is entirely speculative, and it gets repeated because it sounds good and is mildly plausible. But no one knows for sure!
(There appears to be an ESNU system in use in parts of the US, excellent/satisfactory/needs improvement/unsatisfactory. This adds plausibility to dropping E due to possible confusion. )
Edit: Thanks for all the examples of the ESNU system still in place.
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