What Your Grades Really Mean
Welcome back, incredible BookDuck fans! Students are often judged on their grades. This can affect the character and future of the student. Eva Rey has experienced this firsthand and knows how to help others overcome the barrier of judging students based on their grades.
Eva started her Ted Talk by being excited about all the new electives on offer. She loves so many subjects so it was hard to narrow down which ones to take but eventually, when she was finally done picking classes she compared her schedule with her friends just to see if they had any classes with her. Then one of Eva’s friends said “Yeah I love English but I didn't take English literature this year because I suck at it” and asked her “Well why do you suck at English?” and she replied, “Well I only got a 70 in the class last year”. And at first, Eva thought fair enough but then later realized whether you suck at a subject or not shouldn't the point of school be about fostering our interest and becoming better at something.
So why does getting a bad mark limit students' learning? Unfortunately, the reality for many students is that if they don't take certain classes for fear it would bring down their academic average and this is a big deal when students compromise their own learning just to get their numbers on their report cards. Now you might be thinking “Well that's the students own fault. But why do so many of them care about grace rather than learning? Could it be that the school is focusing on the wrong thing? It seems like the school's sole preoccupation is to determine who can follow the curriculum the best. Students as young people are taught to memorize information found in a textbook only to regurgitate it onto next week's test paper before forgetting all about it.
School no longer inspires the minds of the next generation. Instead, researchers at the College of William and Mary showed that creativity among students is on the decline and an increased number of students merely learned a minimum just to get the desired grade. Students asked “Hey what's on the quiz?” so they can study just the bare minimum and if something isn’t for marks or not on a test then they are reluctant to do the work assigned. Now is this because students are lazy? Why do they seem so mark-obsessed? Well, it's because a number means so much to them nowadays, because they feel like those numbers determine their futures, and they value getting a good mark as more important than learning itself. But what other choices do students have? It's not like they really have a say in this. They are told day after day that education is the key to a successful life and that they need good marks in order to have a respectable job or good income. Sure some people say that marks don't define them and that was more than just so great. But it never feels that way; many institutions and learning programs solely look at the marks on a transcript, making students feel like their future is determined by that simple piece of paper. So even though some students might be passionate about their learning or have an inventive mind, if they underperform on those exams then these organizations will refuse to consider them. Innovation will stagnate if this current ideology of education is followed. Because that kills students' creativity, curiosity, and desire to learn. The education system makes it easy for them to just do what they're being told.
Here’s another problem. Somehow adopted this false perspective that those who have good marks must be better and smarter than those who don’t. Those that have trouble following one way of learning have to face a stigma because in our society students with lower grades are considered less intelligent and this lowers self-esteem. But oftentimes it just means they might learn differently and they are smart in their own way or they could be going through a personal issue that consequently affects their marks. People shouldn't be so quick to judge them personally.
Eva also had problems with grades in elementary school. Everyone thought that Eva was very smart and should only get good grades.
But in fact, Eva had just arrived in Canada at the time being and didn’t know either English or French. She had a language barrier, which made it difficult for her to communicate with her peers and keep up in class.
She didn’t understand her teachers, and she had to do everything herself. But she overcame everything. And this situation taught her that students with low grades aren’t stupid at all. And these are just stereotypes.
Eva believes that education needs to be reformed, but first, the understanding of grades needs to be reformed. Students need to understand that numbers don’t define their intelligence.
Looking back at history, we can easily find people who, despite not being the best in their class, had brilliant minds. Think of Sir Isaac Newton, who got terrible grades in high school. Think of Albert Einstein, who also got mediocre grades. Teachers called Thomas Edison mentally ill, but now he is known as a person who lights up our lives.
To sum up, we must understand that the focus should be on the long-term progress of students, not on their performance. In other words, instead of relying on grades to measure a person's potential for success or intelligence, one should simply use grades as feedback on learning. If we can stop treating underachievers as inferior, stop marginalizing them, and make them believe that grades are not the only measure of success, they can become the best and truly helpful leaders of tomorrow.
