No such thing as 100%

This was the sentence that came out of my teacher’s mouth a few weeks ago when I scored 87% on an assignment. Because she had left the “comments for improvement” section of the marking sheet oddly blank, I asked her what I’d done wrong, and what I could do better next time. “Oh there’s noting wrong with it,” she said “there’s just no such thing as 100% in fine art.”
To which I say FUCK YOU of COURSE there’s such a thing as 100%.
What I think she thought she was saying is “there’s no such thing as perfection” and alright that’s debatable, but this is the educational system. In the educational system, a perfect grade means you addressed all criteria completely satisfactorily. I’ve got 100% on English assignments that certainly won’t blow any minds, I’m not fucking Keats, but they were just exactly what the teacher had asked for. And that’s what 100% means. To make that unattainable would be unfair, and I know LOADS of profs and teachers will justify this complete bullshit with philosophical and existential arguments, but it needs to stop.
Because you could literally be completing EVERYTHING to a BEAUTIFUL standard and these profs would still deny you a flawless grade point average that you deserve. If someone is talented at maths, they give them perfect grades. That maths student may not have come up with a new theorem (which is what they seem to expect in the arts) but that student DID EVERYTHING CORRECTLY. And that’s all 100% means. You didn’t make any mistakes.
And what is a profs job but making sure they grade fairly? That’s kind of a major chunk of their responsibility. Denying the existence of 100% is the coward’s way out. If, as someone who creates the assignments, you don’t have the balls to say “yes, that’s what I was looking for, good job” and slap a 100 on that bad boy…. Well then you’re just fucking with everyone.