i had huge problems with this when i went to university, as i found myself consistently graded down by 10% or sometimes 20% because i didn't think sitting through somebody reading me a textbook was a valuable use of my time when i could read it myself with a substantively higher retention rate. i also had an undiagnosed severe social anxiety issue that i didn't fully understood until i was much older that prevented me from leaving the house, and still does, for weeks at a time. i'd get 95% on the tests and assignments, and end up with a B+ in the course because my attendance was low, or sometimes even non-existent. that happened something like 10 or 15 times. it severely soured me on the education system.
i had straight As in high school because there weren't participation marks to grade me down like there were in university.
people don't tend to learn very well in classroom settings. that's science. most people learn better when they read in quiet rooms by themselves, but some people with learning disabilities do better when they touch things with their hands. absolutely nobody learns things optimally or even at all by listening to teachers; you forget 80%, 85% of what the teacher tells you five minutes later, because your biology doesn't allow you to retain it. holding to the classroom model is working against biology and against science. the classroom setting is literally the absolute worst way to teach people things and should be being aggressively abandoned in favour of more scientifically demonstrated learning models, which include online learning. those online learning models were developed with decades of science. they aren't just holding to some debunked conservative prussian model of learning out of backwardsness and stubborness.
eventually, i just started dropping courses with participation grades and avoiding teachers that included them. the ubiquity of participation marks in university was ultimately a large factor in my abandonment of the university as a career option; it wasn't the only factor, but it was a big factor.
i would argue for the opposite approach - there should be a drive to completely abolish participation grades from the post-secondary system. students should be evaluated entirely on their aptitude, and not on how hard they work. some students will fail; some wealthy students will fail. it's good for society to identify them, so they don't end up as prime ministers.
the education minister should be consulting scientists on what the best way that children learn is, and not asking teachers, who have their financial self-interest as their primary goal, and of whom many have no discernible science credentials. but the latter description - no discernible credentials - also describes paul calandra, who is a legitimate grade A fucking idiot. you would have extreme difficulties finding a bigger dumbass than calandra if you made a strenuous effort to search for one. he's going to fuck up anything at all he's assigned to and certainly shouldn't be in cabinet.