给予学生奖励将淡化学生间的差别。但是这种“老好人”的态度也渗透到了教室，其潜在的后果十分严重。新罕布什尔州的一个校董会，关注着损害孩子们自我形象的行为，今年初通过投票停止根据孩子们的能力而进行的分组教学活动。如今校方正在衡量各小组水平并实行统一教学。但是对学生的成绩进行全程追踪在学术上还是效果不错的：老师可以给成绩好的学生更具挑战的学习任务；对学习吃力的孩子提供额外辅导，这就无需浪费任何一个小组的时间。有谁会认为那些成绩不佳的学生在一个满教室都是学习尖子、自己却怎么也跟不上的环境里感觉会好呢？

    Some elementary schools have also moved away from letter and number grades, choosing instead commentary about students based on their achievements "in relation to their own effort and ability," as one education website puts it. And that has led to a lot of meaningless jargon. One Illinois school district gave up letter grades in favor of baffling commentary like "emerging", "developing", "exceed" and "modify". According to a local paper, "modify" signals that "changes need to be made in the curriculum to change the child's expectations" - as if the curriculum, and not the child and his or her parents, is at fault. ......