Research shows that grades have three effects.

研究表明，成績有三種影響。

One, they make students less interested in whatever they're learning for a grade.

其一，它們讓學生對為了分數而學的東西不感興趣。

Two, they become less likely to pick something more difficult.

其二，他們就不太可能選擇更難的東西。

After all, if the point is to get an A, you're going to choose the shortest book or the easiest project, because that makes it more likely you'll get the A.

畢竟，如果你的目標是拿 A，你就會選擇最短的書或最簡單的項目，因為這樣更有可能拿到 A。

And three, when students are graded, they tend to do things in a more shallow or superficial fashion.

第三，當學生被打分時，他們往往會做得比較膚淺或表面化。

They're less likely to really push and reflect, and more likely to say, do we have to know this?

他們不太可能真正推動和反思，而更可能說，我們一定要知道這些嗎？

Is this going to be on the test?

考試會考這個嗎？

That's why the best schools do not grade students, and the best teachers do everything in their power to help students forget that grades exist, and sometimes let students pick their own grades.

這就是為什麼最好的學校不給學生打分，最好的老師會竭盡全力幫助學生忘記分數的存在，有時還會讓學生自己選擇分數。

So we live in a society now where people don't get it.

所以，我們現在生活在一個人們不理解的社會里。

They ignore this research, and they use grades to compel students to do stuff that they understandably have little interest in doing.

他們無視這項研究，用分數來強迫學生做一些他們不感興趣的事情，這是可以理解的。

If I'm a teacher, and I don't have the skill to authentically engage students in science or history or literature, then I have to fall back on bribes and threats to make them do it.

如果我是一名教師，而我又不具備讓學生真實地參與科學、歷史或文學活動的技能，那麼我就不得不依靠賄賂和威脅來讓他們參與進來。

And that's what grades are about.

這就是成績的意義所在。

Not assessment, not a necessary way of reporting results.

不是評估，也不是報告結果的必要方式。

They're about coercion.

它們是關於脅迫的。

And when students get caught up in this trap, arguing about or worried about tenths of a point on their GPA, then they're going to make bad choices about which courses to take and how to allocate their time.

當學生們陷入這個陷阱，為 GPA 的十分之幾而爭論不休或憂心忡忡時，他們就會在選課和如何分配時間方面做出錯誤的選擇。

I think it is true that students who, for all of their career, have been told, this is going to be on the midterm, folks, or you better listen up, this counts for your grade, get the idea that that's the reason to do stuff, is to get a grade, and don't bother doing stuff that isn't graded.

我認為，在學生的學習生涯中，如果他們一直被告知 "夥計們，期中考試會考這個"，或者 "你們最好聽好了，這個會計入你們的成績"，那麼他們就會產生這樣的想法：做事情就是為了得到成績，而不會去做那些不計分的事情。

It would be amazing if students were immune to that constant drumbeat.

如果學生們能免受這種持續不斷的鼓點的影響，那就太神奇了。

But the reality is, every time they think in terms of, what am I going to do for a grade, they lose something as people and as learners.

但現實是，每當他們考慮 "我要為分數做些什麼 "時，他們作為人和學習者就會失去一些東西。

And so, a teacher who has any sense of integrity and commitment to learning is going to spend most of his or her career trying to help students overcome this addiction.

是以，一個正直並致力於學習的教師，會在其職業生涯的大部分時間裡努力幫助學生克服這種癮。

Not just by telling them, forget about the grade, but by making grades less and less relevant and important.

不只是告訴他們，忘掉分數吧，而是讓分數變得越來越不相關，越來越不重要。

So that the natural desire to do stuff that really provides a sense of satisfaction can be rediscovered by students who sometimes have forgotten what gives them pleasure.

這樣，那些有時已經忘記了什麼能給他們帶來快樂的學生就能重新發現做一些真正能帶來滿足感的事情的自然慾望。

I think that's critical, otherwise you have a bunch of grade grubbers, and I don't blame the students for that, I blame the adults who told them that this is the reason to do stuff.

我認為這一點很關鍵，否則就會出現一群成績平平的學生，我不怪學生，我怪的是那些告訴他們這就是做事情的理由的成年人。

I hear from students all the time who have finally shaken free of this and said, screw it, I am sacrificing my entire high school career in search of the almighty A here.

我經常聽到一些學生說，他們終於擺脫了這種狀況，並且說："去他媽的，我將犧牲我的整個高中生涯，在這裡尋找萬能的 A。

The result is, I'm cutting corners ethically by cheating, and I'm not being true to myself.

結果是，我在道德上偷工減料，欺騙了自己，也沒有忠於自己。

I forget that I even really liked photography or whatever.

我甚至忘了自己是否真的喜歡攝影什麼的。

I didn't sign up for it because it doesn't give me an extra point.

我沒有報名參加，因為它不會給我加分。

I'm not going to do that anymore.

我不會再這麼做了。

This is now going to be about learning.

現在我們要學習。

It's not going to be about chasing a grade.

這不是為了追求分數。

And in fact, we can look at schools, including some high schools in the U.S., that have gotten rid of grades, and those students are not only a lot happier, they're a lot better prepared for careers and for college, precisely because they've spent their high school years sampling, exploring, discovering, figuring stuff out without worrying all the time, what is this going to mean for my GPA?

事實上，我們可以看看那些已經取消了分數的學校，包括美國的一些高中，這些學生不僅更加快樂，而且為就業和上大學做好了更充分的準備，這正是因為他們在高中階段一直在嘗試、探索、發現、弄明白一些事情，而不用一直擔心這對我的 GPA 意味著什麼？

So we have not just good theory, but good practice to show that the abolition of grades would do nothing but good.

是以，我們不僅有良好的理論，而且有良好的實踐來證明，取消等級制度只會帶來好處。

It would only make life more complicated for bad teachers who would now have no lever to compel kids to do stuff that doesn't make sense to do in the first place.

這隻會讓壞老師的生活變得更加複雜，因為他們現在沒有了迫使孩子們做那些本來就沒有意義的事情的槓桿。