Students Put Their Grades First

by Michelle Tejada and Alicia Massey, Staff Reporter

Students tend to care more about their grades than actually learning and mastering the skills taught. This is a problem that many schools go through. Teachers often give a grade for each assignment they give and the students become so consumed with getting A’s.

“I think grades help to motivate students to learn materials that they might not otherwise be interested in because I think students aren’t always motivated to learn material that they might feel is not relevant to what they want to do with their lives,” geometry teacher Mrs. Johnston said.

Grades determine whether students will pass or fail and for a student who wants to succeed, grades are very important. Not all teachers give out grades the same way. Some teachers give grades for the student’s efforts, while others don’t grade on effort but final product/skills.

“As a teacher, you  have to be passionate about what you teach. I’m passionate, I make it fun. I don’t make it about grades,” spanish teacher Mr. Reff said.

Students want a grade that they may not deserve in order to look like they did something in school. There are students who don’t do anything and still manage to get a better grade than those who work hard. These students are the ones who put their grades above their academic studies and get away with whatever they do in order to get the grade they want.

“I care more about my grades because colleges look into that rather than the knowledge  because a lot of teachers repeat what we already learned,” freshman Edona Mema said.

Students who work hard don’t always get the grades they want or deserve. Teachers who give grades out unfairly and make the students put their grades above their learning.

Due to certain teachers thinking this way, students start to think that what they do is never enough. This kind of thinking ruins a student’s academic abilities to work hard therefore only caring about their grades in the end.