In the US, your final average grade typically (though not always) follows you for your first 1-2 jobs, at least. So it's quite important.

The objective is a high grade, and learning the material is second, due to the system.

And to be clear, the objective in the author's class is also a high grade. They're not living in another system, they're just pretending it doesn't exist until the very end of the term.

And I'm certainly not saying the system or particularly good, but it is the system that they have to work with right now.