tests and grades are meant to show our progress

towards gaining practical skills

or understanding complicated ideas.

Unfortunately, they often measure the wrong thing

or a limited form of progress.

Albert Einstein said,

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand”.

And he was right.

There is no point in knowing what a solar panel is

if we don't know why it was built or how to install it.

Too often, tests focus on the what,

rather than the more important questions of

how or why.

Multiple Choice is especially tricky.

Governments and schools love it

because you can compute the results fast and cheap.

Unfortunately, Multiple Choice

does not measure for creativity

or original thoughts.

As long as test scores assess

only one very limited form of understanding,

there will be parents and teachers

that push children to focus on the wrong things:

facts for example.

As long as kids have to study subjects

not aligned with their personal interest

- boredom,

confusion or low self-confidence will prevail.

Psychologist Angela Duckworth says character,

perseverance and mindset

make all the difference in school,

work and life;

she calls it 'grit'.

Famous neuroscientists Manfred Spitzer

argues the most important subjects to become

good at anything include music,

handcrafting, and drama,

which are difficult to measure with tests.

Some top schools already focus on mindset

or teach theatre.

In the west,

Montessori and Waldorf schools

help children to develop practical,

creative and social skills

whilst grades matter little.

In East Asia,

there's a new breed of Buddhists schools

that focus on character,

empathy,

awareness and mindset.

What do you think?

Is it an accident that the visionary founders of Google,

Wikipedia and Amazon all went to Montessori,

a school that doesn't use grades?