I give an F to any grading system that includes things like this. What are these schools thinking? Ridiculous!
What 22b said!
If mastery of the subject is demonstrated in the exams then that is all that should be needed.
Employers care about conformity, diligence and reliability, not just smarts. If grades are more useful to them if they contain a homework component, that's an argument for basing grades on more than exam results. It's my impression that few employers look at high school transcripts -- either you graduated or did not. But some employers do look at college transcripts, and college grades depend on "homework" (problem sets and term papers), not just exam scores. My eldest son got A's on all his final exams but in only about half of his classes, because of missing or poorly completed homework. He is very smart, but employers and therefore colleges would be rational in preferring someone equally smart but who also has his act together. I turned the corner in 7th grade, which he enters this fall. I hope he will too.
