Anthony Delaney, a writing and literature professor at De Anza College, has a pretty interesting philosophy toward grades and academia in general.

“I don’t believe in grades, I think they are the downfall of society,” says Delaney, who believes that the current system of meritocracy and achievement-based rewards in schools distracts students from the real importance of education. “All we do is focus on getting a grade and we don’t actually think or learn,” he says. Delaney, who has been on the De Anza staff for 4 years, currently teaches EWRIT 211, EWRIT 2 ?and ELIT12.

Delaney, who received his B.A. in English from the University of Oregon and his M.A. in teaching from the University of San Francisco, has always wanted to teach, and sees “teaching as more of allowing learning to happen, as opposed to presenting information.” Delaney finds inspiration from English instructors from his past who influenced him to become an English teacher. One of his passions is poetry.

He encourages his students to think outside the box and ask questions about literature, which is where he finds much of the value in teaching and reading literature or poetry.

Professor Delaney has been teaching English for 12 years, with the majority of his work at Marin Academy and Berkeley High School.

Despite his reluctance to give grades to students, Delaney believes that if he does have to give grades, they should be earned, and not given away, “I believe that if you’ve got to care about grades, you have to work for it.”

Delaney’s’ EWRIT 211 class is a pass/fail course, which he thinks is freeing, and it allows for a less arbitrary means of evaluating students, “Writing is a process, the whole course is supposed to allow you to make mistakes and to learn from them and grow.”