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A) but that's not the only goal, sometimes you want to teach them it's important to execute on an assignment for the sake of it. Because that s how you deliver in demanding jobs.

B) yes, happened to me in higher education, fucked an Electrical Engineering work assigment, got a crushing 0, dropped the whole thing, focused on Maths and CS, changed school, and became a programmer. Gave me a kick to never fail an assignment ever again, so not sure what to do if the 0s are so many the kid just doesnt care anymore.

C) The teacher doesnt need to change how to measure I think, he needs to change how they deliver: if they cant reach the level, either they must move out because they never will and that s fine, or they must be handled specially so they reach at a different speed with a different method. I ve seen first hand you can teach hard math fast and burn most or slow and get most super motivated. Grades and exams being the same.

>>second+(OP)
> A) but that's not the only goal, sometimes you want to teach them it's important to execute on an assignment for the sake of it. Because that s how you deliver in demanding jobs.

This is only likely to be effective to the extent that you have extensive support at home and that grades are highly valued by the student.

> B) yes, happened to me in higher education, fucked an Electrical Engineering work assigment, got a crushing 0, dropped the whole thing, focused on Maths and CS, changed school, and became a programmer. Gave me a kick to never fail an assignment ever again, so not sure what to do if the 0s are so many the kid just doesnt care anymore.

Higher education is a far different game than primary or secondary school.

My students tend to complete their work. If I was in a position where I had a lot of not-turned-in assignments, I'd probably look at giving students 2/3rds credit for those parts of the assignment that they'd shown mastery of in some other way (in class or on tests). It's still at best a D, and most likely an F, but it does not pull down the average nearly so much.

> C) The teacher doesnt need to change how to measure I think,

I don't fully understand your comment, but-- what I'm saying is: grades are not a great motivator for most students. We treat them like they are necessary to get hard work from students, but I think teachers who get strong performances from students mostly get them in other ways.

I feel like if I'm relying upon a student's fear of a bad grade as a motivator, that I've already lost.