GOOD GRADES

My nephew finished his finals. He earned a 4.0 this quarter. I'm a proud uncle. Ben's GPA made me think about getting report cards in college and high school. I always earned A's, but in the end, the grades didn't mean that much to me. They didn't seem to be accurate measures of my level of learning in the different classes. It's strange to think about being graded again, but I'll experience this phenomenon just the same when I return to school in the Fall. Were (are) grades important to you? What would be a better alternative?