# why is there no E in the grading scale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632 "2003-01-30T15:51:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Victory\_Candescence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Victory\_Candescence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victory_Candescence)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/21 "2003-01-30T22:00:43Z")
America does use the number system, at least in my school. However, the grade that appears on the report card is a letter. Different ranges of numbers get turned into different letters. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/22 "2003-01-30T22:06:40Z")
By “numbers” system I meant the 1-5/6/7 grading scale. The only place this appears in American high schools is in AP/IB exams, and in the converted GPA. Since admittance is based on GPA, wouldn’t it make more sense to use numbers outright? I find the most common method of grading individual papers and calculating final scores to be percentages (though we usually just drop the percentage and say “I got a 92”)… ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/23 "2003-01-30T22:22:11Z")
My elementary school in northern Illinois had E. I don’t know what the high school had because I moved to San Diego, where I had F’s. Uh…I mean _they_ had F’s. For a time, my high school was foolish enough to just hand out the report cards to the students to take home. We were given a carbon copy, and we soon discovered that you could use perfume to make erasures and then just fill in a new grade with a piece of scrap carbon paper. The school caught on pretty quick and started mailing them instead. ---
**Author:** ![Nils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Nils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nils)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/24 "2003-01-31T00:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zagadka \* > \*\*Here’s a better question. Other than American stubborness and “tradition,” why the fark are we still using letters? Why not the same number system Europe uses? \*\* Well, there is no European system. Finland has something like 3; 2; 1; fail(at least in University). In Austria it is 6 to 1 (1 is fail I think). In Germany we have 1 to 6 (5 and 6 mean fail) until you get into 11th grade. Then it is 15 to 0 (4 and below fail). When you come to university you have grades 1; 1.3; 1.7; 2.0; 2.3; …; 3.7; 4.0; 5.0 (5.0 is fail). Be happy to have a rather uniform system in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Nils](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Nils](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nils)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/25 "2003-01-31T01:00:35Z")
I just realized a minor mistake: in 11th grade 3 and below fail. In 12th and 13th grade 4 and below fail. As we are a federal rebublic, this this might also vary between the federal states (Bundesländer). ---
**Author:** ![Sublime54465](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sublime54465](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublime54465)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/26 "2003-01-31T01:08:59Z")
my school has 1-6 ---
**Author:** ![Sublime54465](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sublime54465](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublime54465)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/27 "2003-01-31T01:11:46Z")
(6 being the best) ---
**Author:** ![grisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@grisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grisha)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/28 "2003-01-31T02:41:56Z")
i use to wonder this too when i was in school, i asked my teacher and she said. ‘because F’s are for stupid kids, and stupid kids don’t know shit about the alphabet.’ worse teacher i ever had; old, cranky and smoked so much the room always smelled. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/29 "2003-01-31T08:56:42Z")
When I was doing my GCSEs in the UK the grading scheme went from A to G, which scientifically proves that a British education is better as it has more letters. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/30 "2003-01-31T11:10:10Z")
I suspect that a 5 letter grading system is better because it has a clear “average” point. If it were A-F, then c would be slightly above average and D would be slightly below. ---
**Author:** ![spudbucket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@spudbucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spudbucket)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/31 "2003-01-31T12:30:42Z")
University of kentucky uses A to E for grades ---
**Author:** ![Jammers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jammers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jammers)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/32 "2003-01-31T13:04:05Z")
In the UK, for GCSEs (15/16 year old) we have A\* A B C D E F G U. Different grades mean different things to different people. The higher end colleges and a lot of employers say that anything between A\*-C is a pass. I work in the education department of a Local Authority, and only a U is really a fail. (Failed to achieve a grade). Advanced Level (16/17 year olds) grades are similar, without the A\*. At university, qualifications are ranked in a bizarre way. 1, 2:1, 2:2, 3, Pass, Nothing. These are said: First, Two One, Two Two (Desmond) and (Richard the) Third. Jxx ---
**Author:** ![High\_Deity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9a140/32.png) [@High\_Deity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Deity)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/33 "2003-01-31T14:53:07Z")
Just to poke fun… I’m surprized that we have grades at all, given our “politically correct” society. We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings 🙂 ::ducks and runs:: ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/34 "2003-01-31T16:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by High Deity \* > \*\*Just to poke fun… I’m surprized that we have grades at all, given our “politically correct” society. We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings 🙂 > > ::ducks and runs:: \*\* Several colleges experimented with various forms of de-emphasizing grades in the past, such as going to all pass-fail grading, etc. It more or less failed because the real world intruded when potential employers were unhappy with transcripts from those institutions. Some still try to maintain the spirit of the thing. A case study on Reed college, for instance: “Grades are de-emphasized; professors assign grades in each course, but students do not routinely receive grade reports.” A Reed graduate I knew mentioned several times that classes weren’t graded at Reed. I imagine the pressure to provide readable transcripts is the reason professors actually have to produce grades. BTW, not all institutions always used the now expected 4 point scale. My father told me that Penn State used to have a 3 point scale with a failing grade counting as a -1, and actually allowing professors to hand out a -2 for cases of academic dishonesty[sup]1[/sup]. His low 2’s GPA doesn’t sound that good until you realize that you have to add a point to it. I remember reading a resume on some potential employee I was interviewing whose institution used a reversed system - 0 for A, 1 for B, etc, so that a lower number was better. [sup]1[/sup] - called “bar one” and “bar 2”, apparently. My father claims to have seen a case where a professor was so pissed off at a student that he handed out a nonexistent -3 grade and made it stick. I have my doubts. Probably the professor vented by reporting it that way, but it eventually went on the kid’s record as a -2. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/35 "2003-02-06T21:28:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, there is no European system. Finland has something like 3; 2; 1; fail(at least in University) Before university it’s 4-10, with 4 being failed. ---
**Author:** ![andymurph64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@andymurph64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andymurph64)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632/36 "2003-02-06T22:15:08Z")
Elroy Jetson’s friend got 3 D’s an F and an H once. He switched report cards with Elroy and all hell tore loose… 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-e-in-the-grading-scale/151632.md?page=1)