Don’t Judge Students by Their Grades
An Essay by Hakima A.
“Never judge a student by his/her grades!” I first heard this quote in a video and the more I thought about it, the more I could relate to it and the more it made sense. People judge students by their grades. If a student has high test scores, he/she is considered smart and clever, and people respect them, but if a student has a low test score, he/she is considered stupid and people predict a dark, unsuccessful future. Unfortunately, this is not a belief only in Afghanistan, this kind of thinking is everywhere. This is a huge mistake and really wrong. When people hear that a kid is going to school, they begin expecting him/her to be smart, clever, social, courageous and much, much more. I wonder if people who have these expectations ever think for a second if the school really prepares the students to meet these expectations? How can a student be social and courageous and clever if he/she is only spending time memorizing facts and worrying about test scores? If a student does not score high, maybe there is more to his/her mind than having the ability to memorize facts.
So, dear parents, mentors, teachers, guardians, tutors, please never think of a student who scores low on a test as a stupid, ignorant student. Students are not pieces of technology or USB drives to store facts in their minds. Never assume that just because a student has high scores, he/she is smart and never assume that just because a student scores low, he/she is ignorant.
School should not be a place for students to be programed like robots. School should be a place where students get ready for their future by learning how to think creatively and improve their leadership skills, and most importantly, where they learn to communicate, because in the future, people won’t judge them by how many dates in history they memorized or how many formulas of chemistry and physics and math they have memorized, but by the degree of their humanity and kindness. And dear students, if you are reading this, please always remember, that learning how to be human and how to live among humans is far more important than training your mind to do a job like a computer.
