I suspect that a "certificate of course completion" (or, if you prefer, "a course grade") does not actually requiring comparing individuals A and B.

It does, however, require gauging that individual X, for any individual X who have taken the course, said individual X have acquired enough knowledge to consider "having passed".

Anything beyond "pass/fail" is merely trying to stack-rack students and impose un-needed competition. But it is good for the gamification of knowledge acquisition, so perhaps not entirely bad.

The more we can split up "Teaching people useful things" and "Rationing access to status objects" the better off we are.

Many (most?) people learn your A to get to your B.

That's a good reason to split it up, that people don't understand there could be anything else to pursue education for.