So, which grade is your country?

When I was 12 or 13, one of my classmates suggested that we grade all our teachers (which seemed fair since they judge us all the time). If I remember right, it was on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the best) and we were doing it during one of those periods when the teacher doesn't turn up but sends someone else to make sure we don't turn the class upside down.

Incidentally, that 'someone' for the class in question caught us chattering and giggling our ways to glory and realized we were up to some mischief. To our credit, we were honest (we couldn't think of a appropriate lie that connects the teachers to the numbers).

For some strange reason, 'someone' didn't appreciate teachers being rated. She found the whole exercise presumptuous and threw us out of class.

Now that I am old, boring and wise, I think it is a bad idea to rate anything unless it is strictly based on quantifiable results. Because under all those numbers you are being plain judgmental.

Why am I reminded of this obscure incident now? Saw this link where the flags are rated as A, B, C and failed - link. The author has defined best practices for how flags should look like and listed some rules of aesthetics. What is missing is the historical context behind the design of the flag and what it conveys about the country.

India is B- (with a score of 65/100).

And to put things in perspective - Pakistan is A+ (88/100) ;-)

Photo courtesy - iStockPhoto