There are multiple goals for the students. One might be "have fun", or whatever, or maybe it's not a goal. One is "gain the best preparation for subsequent li

There are multiple goals for the students. One might be "have fun", or whatever, or maybe it's not a goal. One is "gain the best preparation for subsequent life", which might well be reducible to "learn the most possible", or perhaps not. Fine. Another goal is "get the best possible grade", which some students might not have, but most do, and different students value it differently. But depending on the class, this MIGHT reduce to "get a higher grade than my classmates". Or it might not. If you have a chance (and willingness) to affect your classmates' grades, then knowing whether or not the class is graded on a curve is pretty important.