Comment Perfect as an ideal (Score 1) 251
Sometimes on my 'Duolingo dailies' it tells me to get 3 Perfect lessons.
Perfect isn't unusual. There are stretches when I'll go for days and all my lessons are perfect. However, perfect is also unforgiving. Just one accidental button click, or a couple words transposed as I drag them in the app, and all of a sudden, there's no more 'Perfect.' It doesn't mean my skill is less or I'm not learning. It just means it wasn't 'Perfect.'
And there's no way to 'regain' perfect. I often just cancel that lesson and start over. That's definitely not the goal for them saying 'get 3 perfect lessons.' (I guess it might be...more ads play in the middle.)
The point is, 'Perfect' as an idea is flawed. GPA, and having a 'perfect' result be available is flawed. I kinda like the changes they made to gymnastics, with difficulty and execution scores. There's no more 'perfect 10' because even if you did your routine perfectly, the other person can add another 'twist' and now they have the opportunity to do better.
Grading is definitely one of the things that needs to be overhauled as far as 'schooling' goes. (I didn't say 'education' because 'education' is great...it's 'schooling' that's broken.)