Grades tend to be the bane of students everywhere, whether they’re constantly getting low ones or being pressured to get high ones. However, one must understand that a student’s grades in school do not reflect on their overall intelligence. School grades are meant to measure progress in class, and they do not indicate someone’s overall intelligence. Furthermore, focusing on grades can be detrimental to a student’s self esteem.
Let’s start by looking at what these grade scores really measure. Students’ grades are a standardized way to measure their overall performance in class—mainly how well they can demonstrate the things they’ve learned in said class. These scores tend to focus on how well students retain and comprehend information fed to them during the curriculum. Good grades are highly valued by colleges as they tend to indicate a student’s academic achievement.
With that, one’s grade scores do not determine one’s level of intelligence. Or at least, not the type of intelligence most schools look for. There are many different types of intelligence (musical, logical, linguistic, etc.), and these types cannot be graded by a letter or number. Additionally, there may be other issues that factor into low class performance, such as low energy, disinterest in classes, learning disorders, etc.
Rating intelligence based on grade scores can also be harmful to a student’s self confidence. Seeing a bad grade on a report card can make someone feel like they aren’t smart enough for a certain class. This can leave them questioning their own self-worth—especially if they have parents that heavily value good grades—and even lead them to cheat—a growing problem to this day—just so they can get the scores they desire.
So where does that leave us in the end? Well, teachers and parents can start by putting less pressure on students to keep their grades up. As for students, they should remember to do their best in all classes, but they should also try to push themselves a bit
Written by Chimdiadi Nwamba