People are just finding out the real reason why there is no letter 'E' grade in school
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: Neustockimages/andresr/Getty Images
People are just finding out why there's no letter E grade at school.
While it definitely wouldn't be the best grade to achieve even if it did exist, we've often wondered why the grading system tends to go from A-D before skipping E and going straight to F.
Turns out, there's a pretty straightforward reason why and it makes a lot of sense.
Advert
According to the Washington Post, grading at school dates back to 1883 when a student was given a B at Harvard University.
Apparently, the concept of grading as a way of evaluating work was popular, and so the idea of awarding different letters as grades took off.
Fast forward a few years and in 1897, Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts was the first school to continue the idea.
The school gave an A grade for a score of 95-100 percent, a B was equal to 85-94 percent, a C represented 76-84 percent and a D was 75 percent. Anything below this was an E which also meant that the student had failed the exam.
This has changed somewhat over the years, with different letters representing slightly different percentages, meanwhile the letter F was also added in.
However, the reason why some schools took out E is actually very simple.
Turns out that some parents and students were mistaking E for 'excellent' - and of course, it actually means the opposite.
Swapping E for F - which could stand for 'fail' - made more sense.
Some people have found the logic behind this a little odd, however.
Many pointed out that the letters could stand for many different words, such as B for 'bad' or A for 'average'.
On a YouTube explainer by Zack D. Films, one person commented: "So they can’t use E because they thought it meant 'Excellent' But what about F For 'Fantastic'?"
While another said: "'Mom I got an F in my test! It means 'fantastic' right?'"
And a third added: "In my elementary school we had A, B, I, D and F.
"'I' meant 'improvement needed' as opposed to using the letter C."
And a fourth wrote: "Always thought it was like 'you failed so badly that we're just gonna skip over E and give you an F. That's how badly you did.' lol."
Meanwhile, a fifth commented: "Lmao, my school always uses E as the lowest grade but never uses F, this is funny to watch."