Final answer:
Grading systems are criticized for the difficulty in measuring qualitative criteria, teamwork, and communication skills, and potentially lacking objectivity. They may also fail to account for multiple intelligences and cultural biases. A uniform 'C' grade policy would hinder the recognition of individual student performance, contradicting the incentivizing nature of competitive grading.
Step-by-step explanation:
Typical criticisms of grading systems as an assessment tool include that qualitative criteria are hard to gauge (b), teamwork and communication skills are hard to evaluate (d), and they may not be an objective tool (e). The criticisms stem from the concern that certain aspects of student performance such as motivation, collaboration, and other social skills, can be challenging to measure accurately with a traditional grading scale. Grading systems often deal with quantitative discrete and qualitative or categorical data but may struggle to assess multiple intelligences and can inadvertently favor students with certain cultural backgrounds.
Furthermore, an experiment where a teacher implements a collectivist grading model, announcing that every student will receive a 'C' because this reflects the class mean, illustrates that individual performance cannot be evaluated (a). This approach would prevent differentiation between students who excel and those who may need additional support. Such uniform grading strategies may ignore the varying factors of student performance, such as attendance, innate ability, and work ethic, and therefore, may not be the most effective way to foster a competitive and motivated learning environment.