I taught high school for many years in Canada; mostly English, History, Special Needs. I decided early on that spoon-feeding was useless and kids needed to be shown that it was to their advantage to think for themselves; not to regurgitate what they thought I wanted to hear so that they could achieve high marks. One year, in my grade 11 English class, I didn't give them grades on their writing; instead I had peer evaluation and my own comments on how to improve their writing. At first they were horrified: "but Ms. Coyle, how will I know how well I'm doing if I don't see and A, B, C etc or percentage on my work?" I told them my job was to improve their skill set, not to simply give them a mark. Over time, they completely appreciated the concept because they could focus on their work and not a number/percentage grade. I had them keep a portfolio of their writing throughout the year, and at the end of the semester, we saw amazing progress! Unfortunately there is so much emphasis put on grades, that students and teachers lose sight of the fact that education is about exploring, thinking, and learning. I never had a problem admitting that I didn't know something because to me, learning is a life long goal!