War wages on: grades vs. learning

Students need to lose the prevailing view that the only way to be successful in school is to obtain high marks. This tired, stressful belief is not only ridiculous, but hazardous to the human brain.There is no doubt about it; marks rule the world of education. They are the instrument which measures the intelligence of human beings. For example: Emily is an A student, therefore, Emily is an intelligent human being. Leslie is an F student; therefore, Leslie is not intelligent. The grading system is used to make the perceived intelligence of a student easily categorized and understood.

Indeed, marks are not just forms of assessing intelligence anymore. Grades are what matters and unfortunately, there is only a small correlation between grades and learning. Imagine this: Geoffrey writes an essay, for which he spent many hours studying. However, he is a horrible writer and due to his horrible writing he achieves a mere 60% on the test. Geoffrey considers this an absolute failure, his parents are upset with him, and he feels like he doesn't belong in University. Obviously, it is not the actual knowledge he learned that is important to him, but the mark he received for the presentation of the learned knowledge. Geoffrey is not alone. I would argue that the majority of students in post-secondary school would feel the same way.

This is the problem with students now: they obsess over marks while completely forgetting the very reason they are in school-to learn. Yes, it is true. Interestingly enough, it would appear that it is the grades that are more important to the average student than the material. This gives birth to an assortment of problems. Students are becoming more stressed and exposed to psychological problems. According to the Association of University and College Counseling, more than half of the students who seek counseling now are categorized as "severe" or worse-largely due to academic failure.

The question is though, where does this compulsive, unstable approach to school come form? It would be impossible to accurately pin it down to one thing, as there are no doubt many reasons for this disgusting mess. One reason, however, is surely related to the get-rich-quick mindset that seems to rule the modern world.

In other words, many people view marks as a ladder that will lead them to the top. For example, I think I'd like to be a teacher. I'm required to have particular marks in order to get into teachers college. If I don't get those particular marks, there is a good chance I won't make it in the field of my choice. Such pressure is not only unhealthy, but it's also unnecessary.

There is absolutely no reason why students should constantly feel stressed about whether or not they'll make the grade. Marks should not be the point, learning should be the point.

Students need to escape the inevitable state of agony and disappointment by forgetting the importance of marks and just learn. It is up to each individual to make this decision, and however difficult a decision it may be to make, it certainly possesses drastic consequences.