I taught for many years at a city public high school. Since 2005 or so, our test policy was that any score less than 50% must be recorded as 50%. So if a student wrote his name on a paper then went to sleep, he received 50 points.
We teachers hated that. But no matter. The administrators wanted more students to pass. That’s how they got bonuses and promotions. So the policy stayed in place.
Let me tell you who that hurt the most. It hurt the marginal students, those who needed motivation to study. But why study if you know you’re guaranteed at least 50 points?
When I was in school s thousand years ago the passing grade was 75%