Many people believe that competition for high grades motivates students to excel in the classroom while others maintain such competition seriously limits the quality of real learning. In my observation, I intend to agree with the former one. I concede sometimes excessive competition for grades can have harmful effects, nevertheless, such competition indeed more advantages than the harmful ones.
 First of all, many educational specialists view the competition for grades as a motivation for study and learning. Students and parents also claim the examination serves as a driving force of diligence and intelligence by putting pressure on students to activate their potential. Furthermore, the examination is considered as a mechanism for determining the best suitable students for college or other selections. It also examines the conditions of students' learning. For students receiving high scores, they are motivated to keep on working hard while for students who fail in the exam; the grade is a kind of warning that if they do not try harder they will be eliminated.
Moreover, such competition is good for students' development. Competition, a mechanism that exist everywhere in the modern society, can help students to achieve self-understanding and self-direction necessary to make informed choices and move forward to personal goal. Without competition, students may be lazy and have no incentive to study and they cannot otherwise understand how they acquire the knowledge. According to Keynes's economic theories, a low rate of unemployment is motivating for economy for any society. Because such a low rate of unemployment will lead to positive competition and hence the productivity will highly increase. Keeping a certain rate of failure in a exam will work in a similar way.
Nevertheless, such competition can have harmful effects and cause injury. Following some mental problems and unfair action, excessive competition can inhabit the quality of real learning. For example, a student who does not have satisfactory grades may envy the students gaining great grades, thus in order to get higher grade he may choose to cheat in the exam. Or a hard-working student may have too much pressure that fearing to fail in the exam. Any of these cases could impede the real learning and inhabit individual growth.
In sum up, the present educational system with competition for high grades does have defects and limits, however, it is not the inherent aim of the formal education whose purpose is to lead to positive competition for the students and hence improve the activity and initiative of learning.