My dad always said "did you get perfect?" otherwise it wasn't good enough

This is mine too, in Ontario

Sometimes schools use Levels 1-4 instead of percentages, with Level 4 being an A and Level 1 being a D. Level 2 means you're almost reaching standards, Level 3 shows that your meeting standards, Level 4 shows that you're surpassing standards. Level 1 means you're a flop

Just study and get A's and don't worry about it.

At my University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada:

90-100 A+
85-89 A
80-84 A-
77-79 B+
73-76 B
70-72 B-
67-69 C+
63-66 C
60-62 C-
57-59 D+
53-56 D
50-52 D-
0-49 F

No.

In many cases, the effort required to get an A is ridiculous - sometimes even impossible. I'm a Dean's List honors student and I can tell you that much. I could get a 4.0 GPA, but at what cost? What am I missing by burying my nose in over 54 hours worth of books a week, not even counting classes? By studying myself silly before even equating for other expected academic things? What else could I be doing with my life if we focused on reinforcing core ideas rather than testing and evaluating knowledge of incredibly specific details I will forget in a few months anyway? There should be standards for academic success, but to fail to question and reevaluate these standards both periodically and with respect to individual institutions or classes is to disregard the lives of students. Believe it or not, that time that isn't already packed with classes and the expected "three hours" of studying per credit hour isn't actually free time. Students today are encouraged - even expected - to overextend themselves in extracurricular involvement, and even to get jobs, whether that be to prepare for future career options or to simply pay for the education that they receive. We should be completely sure that we're actually evaluating students properly - not to do so is an injustice to those students and a waste of the money that they pay to be educated. This is especially true as parents become overly critical of their children, and as employers and universities alike become more selective with regard to success. If a kid gets a C average but is more skilled at understanding, using, and conveying key information than the kid who got a perfect grade based on factual evaluations, should he not receive notice for that ability? Sure, this is where many classes and institutions are beginning to go - evaluating and searching for key ideas and principles to be reinforced - but traditional "grades" still need to be looked upon with a critical eye.

Same at my University in Ontarfio

Well clearly not everyone is the same, I never had to study much at all, maybe 5-6 hours a week that does not include homework though, I am talking pure studying. Going to class, doing the classwork, homework and brushing up before a test is all I needed.

College was different though, I had a lot more labs and papers to write so I definitely spent a lot of hours a week maintaining my grades.

Well, I don't have to either, but I like to play devil's advocate on the issue as a sort of way to justify my natural laziness when it comes to school.

It's getting harder to keep up stellar grades without as much effort, but I really do have friends who struggle and never do anything but study and yet still don't make the right marks. It makes you think a lot about whether the system is as efficient as it could be.

in Scotland:

Pass Grades:
A 70-100
B 60-69
C 50-59
D 40-49

fail Grades
E 35-39
F <35

I had friends that struggled also but it is what it is, not everyone is the same. I am more of visual hands on learner so when I'm shown how to do something it sinks right in; I'm about half as good reading pure text. On the other hand the guy who is my business partner can read anything and just get it instantly but he has a harder time being creative.

People are wired differently I don't think there is one singular best way to teach but there can't be too many variations. It's going to be a mix of visual, hands on, textual and auditory so maybe they need to figure out what the kids are strong at early and separate them in to those groups who knows.

In countries like the UK and South Africa getting a grade of 90+ is virtually impossible. Like in my university getting an average of 75% puts you in 0.5% of the entire university. Its not that Americans are smarter but the testing system is different. When I wrote exams to get into American universities I scored well like 90's but here if I get 60% I'm a legend.

In the UK, it varies from school to university.

Generally, at school, it is:
A* 90%
A 80%
B 70%
C 60%
D 50%
E 40%
(Below E is a fail)

At university, it is:
1st Class 70%
2nd Class, Upper Division 60%
2nd Class, Lower Division 50%
3rd Class 40%
(Below 3rd Class is a fail)

Here in Portugal it goes from 0 to 20, bellow 10 you fail.

Every school from primary to the university I went to used the scale:

90 to 100 - A
80 to 89 - B
70 to 79 - C
60 to 69 - D
59 or below - F

Here at primary and secondary schools we have grades from 1 to 5, 1 being the best (A) and 5 = fail (F).
At uni we have:
A = 90-100%
B = 80-89%
C = 70-79%
D = 60-69%
E = 50-59%
F = 49% and below = fail