The proper question may not be ‘How would we make them learn without grades?’ The more accurate question might be ‘What currency would we use if we didn’t have grades?’ To be clear, this is not an argument in favor of grades, especially as we currently use them, but school is transactional on many fundamental levels, and the instrument used in just about every transaction of school is the grade.

Asking how we would go about our business as teachers without grades is a little like asking how society might work without money.