No one wants to hear everything that's in your head. They just want you to live up to what comes out of your mouth.
Adam GrantRead
The more important argument against grade curves is that they create an atmosphere that's toxic by pitting students against one another. At best, it creates a hypercompetitive culture, and at worst, it sends students the message that the world is a zero-sum game: Your success means my failure.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Grade curves can foster unhealthy competition among students.
In this quote, Adam Grant emphasizes the negative consequences of using grade curves in educational settings. He argues that such practices not only create a toxic environment where students are pitted against each other but also promote a mindset of competition that views success as limited, leading to a zero-sum game where one student's achievement comes at the expense of another's. This can hinder collaboration and emotional well-being, making education a less supportive space for learning.
Themes
EducationCompetitionGrade CurvesToxic EnvironmentCollaboration
In practice
Example use cases
During a faculty meeting discussing grading policies, this quote can be used to advocate for more equitable assessment methods.
More from Adam Grant
All quotes →In the eyes of many people, giving doesn't count unless it's completely selfless. In reality, though, giving isn't sustainable when it's completely selfless.
Adam GrantRead
When you procrastinate, you're more likely to let your mind wander. That gives you a better chance of stumbling onto the unusual and spotting unexpected patterns.
Adam GrantRead
We have many identities, and we can't be authentic to them all. The best we can do is be sincere in our efforts to earn the values we claim.
Adam GrantRead
We all have thoughts and feelings that we believe are fundamental to our lives but that are better left unspoken.
Adam GrantRead
You want people who choose to follow because they genuinely believe in ideas, not because they're afraid to be punished if they don't. For startups, there's so much pivoting that's required that if you have a bunch of sheep, you're in bad shape.
Adam GrantRead
Similar quotes
The examination system, and the fact that instruction is treated mainly as a training for a livelihood, leads the young to regard knowledge from a purely utilitarian point of view as the road to money, not as the gateway to wisdom.
Bertrand RussellRead
Syntax, my lad. It has been restored to the highest place in the republic.
John SteinbeckRead
If you want a free society, teach your children what oppression tastes like. Tell them how many miracles it takes to get from here to there. Above all, encourage them to ask questions. Teach them to think for themselves.
Jonathan SacksRead
There's no such thing as knowledge management;_x000D_ _x000D_ there are only knowledgeable people._x000D_ _x000D_ Information only becomes knowledge_x000D_ _x000D_ in the hands of someone_x000D_ _x000D_ who knows what to do with it.
Peter DruckerRead
Reading and writing and the preservation of language and its forms and the kind of eloquence and the kind of beauty which the language is capable of is terribly important to the human beings because this is connected to thought.
Iris MurdochRead
It is not the task of the University to offer what society asks for, but to give what society needs.
Edsger DijkstraRead