Grades are broken. Students grub for them, pick classes where good ones come easily, and otherwise hustle to win the highest scores for the least learning. As a result, college grades are inflated to the point of meaninglessness--especially to employers who want to know which diploma-holder is best qualified for their jobs. An alternative is to recognize students' specific achievements. This is a viewpoint driving experiments in education badges. Offered mostly by online start-ups, the badges are modeled on the brightly colored patches on Boy Scout uniforms but are inspired primarily by video games. One key benefit of education badges could simply be communicating what happens in the classroom in a more employer-friendly form.