Why Are We Obsessed with Grades? A Reflection on Greek Education

A friend of mine recently sent me a video featuring a Greek university professor who expressed outrage at how many students in Greece receive excellent grades. But who is responsible for this? According to the professor, the blame lies with the teachers.

Let’s explore and broaden this topic a bit. What’s the Purpose of Grades? Grades should primarily evaluate a student’s understanding of a subject. But they should also help students learn how to care for themselves in ways that support learning. For example, if I have a geography test coming up next week, I should plan how to study: using books, YouTube videos, documentaries, etc. I should also think about when I study best — maybe 20 minutes every day after a good nap works for me. At the end of the week, I might take a self-made test to see how well I remember what I studied. If I’ve prepared well but still get a lower grade than expected, what do I learn? Maybe the official test was harder than mine. Maybe I didn’t sleep well the night before, or I was hungry and couldn’t focus. A grade, then, becomes a reflection not just of what you know — but of how you’ve taken care of yourself.

On the other hand, what if you barely studied and didn’t sleep enough, yet you still got a high grade? That teaches you something too: that minimal effort can still be enough. Over time, that lesson can be dangerous.

When Grades Become a Currency at Home

Another problem is how grades function in families. When grades are means to get something— toys, praise, approval — they lose their true value. Grades should serve the student and the teacher. They are a way for students to understand what they know and don’t know, and for teachers to assess whether their teaching methods and materials are appropriate and engaging.

The Pressure Starts Early

This obsession with grades starts alarmingly early in Greece. Some parents prepare their children for first grade with private lessons. Even in kindergarten, there’s pressure for children to write their names and decode words. There’s nothing wrong with early literacy — if it happens naturally. But when it becomes a source of stress, that’s a problem.

To me, all this early academic pressure feels like trying to run before learning how to walk — before exercising, stretching, eating, and sleeping well. In other words, it’s insane. We all want our kids to be happy. And happiness, in early childhood, comes through play — playing with other children, with nature, with toys, or with anything that sparks joy and curiosity.

What We Can Learn from Other Countries

In many Northern European countries, play is central to early childhood education. And how do their kids perform on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)? Much better than Greek students. Greece ranks near the bottom among European nations. Our kids are overloaded with information and stimulation. They need real rest — not just naps, but less structured activity, fewer worksheets, and more time to explore the world through play.

Why Are We Still Doing This?

Why do we keep pushing our kids into systems that make them unhappy and stifle their ability to think critically? Maybe we’re clinging to an outdated stereotype — that Greeks are relaxed, even lazy — and we overcompensate by fearing failure. But failure isn’t the problem. Failure is part of the learning process. The real problem is indifference — when kids stop caring about school because the only thing they’re learning is how to chase a grade, not how to think. That’s the true failure: the failure of successive Greek governments to gradually reform the educational system. And until we change that, we’ll keep confusing high grades with real learning — and our kids will be the ones who suffer.