There are a lot of things where, if I don't do well on it once, I'll say things like "It's not for me" or "I can't do this." I also took a lot of AP classes in high school, and even though they were more challenging and rewarding, I kicked myself for taking them because if I hadn't taken them, I could have had a 4.0 GPA and gotten more scholarships in college. But since I pushed myself and took difficult classes that gave me lower grades, I didn't make the cut. This is teaching kids to take the easy way out, and I often find myself doing that now because of this.
These kinds of thoughts I know are because of a growth-fixed mindset and could be helped if I changed the mindset. It's a very cool idea that I'm happy to look more into. It's important that people know that they are capable of learning anything even if they don't get the letter grade they wanted the first time.
(Cat meme from Growth Mindset Memes blog)
The idea that grades could DISCOURAGE people from learning is what worries me the most, Toni! And it is so common: people are either discouraged because they get bad grades (which doesn't really help them with learning more/better) or they don't make the attempt for fear of getting a bad grade (because we all know grades based on tests are kind of a gamble: it's so random what gets asked on a test), just like you said here. And if you are curious about all this, try some of the growth mindset challenges this semester. I'm a learner too (anybody who writes is ALWAYS a learner, since nobody is ever done learning how to write!), and Carol Dweck's work has definitely helped me be more adventurous in my own learning!. :-)
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