[bjornsing]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why understanding and mastery is not rewarded in education to the extent some/I believe it should be. My current thinking is that it’s simply not how most people learn, and few systems can withstand pressure from the great majority.

There are interesting exceptions though: take the Putnam math test for instance. It’s taken mostly by math and theoretical physics majors who want to go to grad school in those subjects. The maximum score is 125, and the top scores are typically 115+. The median score however is usually... [wait for it]... zero.

I suspect a lot of grades would have that kind of distribution if they really tested for deep understanding and mastery of the subject.