Our online grade book has an app that allows students to check grades even when we close our books to enter final grades. I think it is an unofficial app, but it has an app. Beyond the app, the students and parents have access to a portal, which allows for them to check grades in real time. If I enter something, I can have students coming to ask me about the grade they got within three minutes. For example, today I entered grades for an annotated poem for AP. Less than 10 minutes later, one of the students came in to ask why he got a ZERO when he knows he turned in the assignment. His annotated poem turned out to be on the last day of the Island of Misfit Papers (no-name wall) before I tossed it. Problem solved.
To a high school student, grades are the single most important part of school. Not intrinsically mind you, they don't really care. They HAVE to care. Cell phones, cars, weekends out, all depend on grades. Parents, teachers, administrators, colleges all pressure students to get good grades. In elementary school, kids go home and get asked "What did you learn today?" I have asked over 300 students int he last 2 years if they ever get asked that question, and a handful said yes. They get asked "How did you do on that test?" "What grade did you get?" Students are conditioned to bypass any comments on an essay, in favor of looking for a grade. I put grades at the end of an essay just so the students have to at least flip through the essay to maybe glance at some of the comments I leave.
This focus on results is damaging. It is damaging to teenagers, to teachers, to parents, and to colleges. Studies are showing that high school graduates are less prepared for colleges now more than ever. Cheating appears to be at an all-time high as well. When the importance is the outcome, the journey, or the learning, gets lost. I have seen great kids bawling due to one F because they believe that F is going to destroy their future. Parents believe the four year college is the only worthy route to a successful life. Not only is a four year college the only route, but it has to be a well thought-of college. The UC System or bust.
As someone who went to a high school that wasn't exactly well regarded in terms of education, and who went to junior college, and eventually a State school, hearing students regurgitate these ideas, hurts. It pains me to think that I have students who think their entire lives hinge on getting into Berkeley. I am a pretty smart guy, but it never came super naturally to me. I worked at it. I fought for learning, and because of that, I believe that the college from which you get your degree is not nearly as important as the education you get out of your school. I know plenty of dumb people with degrees from great schools.
Learning is what is important, but it has gotten lost. It has gotten lost in a sea of grades, extra curricular activities meant to pad a college application, and stress about the future. I have students already worrying about how to deal with a mortgage in the future. Everything is about the next step, not the current step. Producing well-educated students is my job. Producing thoughtful teenagers, is my calling. It gets increasingly difficult to do both of those jobs, when all students see is the end result.
I apply this to my regular life now too. Weight loss is great. But focusing on how much weight I do or do not lose, keeps me from focusing on the important things I learn about myself, about food, about my body. It can be demoralizing if the focus is solely placed on the end result. Frankly, it does not even matter if I never reach my ultimate weight loss goal. As long as I am trying to improve, and learning about myself along the way, my life will be better. My life is better. Now the next step is to stop thinking so much about the future and live in my present. Enjoy the things I learn on a daily basis. Take those little things and apply them to the bigger picture, when the time is right.
before grades come out, I always remind my students of two things:
1. Grades do not determine intelligence.
2. Grades do not determine your life.
We can plug so many other stressers into that second tip. Much of what we stress about does not determine our lives.
I tell my students to ask "How can I learn better" not "How can I raise my grade?" I ask myself "How can I be healthier?" not "How can I lose weight?" It is about perspective. We could all use an adjustment to our perspective at times. It's not about getting an A, it's about learning the information and understanding how to apply it to our lives.
Have an awesome weekend readers.
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