Grades are good, but skills are more important

In my journalism classes, I always insist that it is good to get a good grade, but knowing how to write, take a picture and shoot a video is more important than the grade. 

As an employer, a D-student who is good with the camera is far more useful than an A-student who can’t take a good picture or write a proper news feature. 
Our education system puts unnecessary emphasis on grades. Students focus on grades at the expense of acquiring useful skills. It is not strange that engineering firms would rather employ polytechnic graduates instead of university graduates.
Our universities have a tendency of training students who want to be bosses, far removed from the day-to-day running of organisations. Yet most organisations need hands-on skills, some that are never taught at university. 
To be marketable as a student, you should learn practical skills in your profession. For instance, if you want to be a complete modern journalist, you must be adept at camera (photography and video), how to run social media platforms, skills to sniff fake news, curating, and such. 
Since most jobs are now computerised, it helps to be acquainted with with whatever new software in the market. Sadly, local public universities are badly underfunded, under-equipped, and students must find means to acquire these skills on their own.

As I have said before, most of the syllabi used by local universities have expired by at least 10 years. Students must use the Internet to know what skills that are relevant in their market. I know many people who got jobs on account of their skills. Grades came much later, for a promotion, or where it was a constitutional requirement.