This blog is dedicated to all the C or worse students in the world...
I just returned from the very last class I will ever take. At this final class, I received the results of my final project. I got a 69 out of 100, with the comments "Very weak effort. Not graduate level work." What I wanted to say back was I'm not here to work, I'm here to learn. Somewhere that fact has been lost on our education system. I cringe when "Will this be on the exam?" is asked. Our society is conditioned that an education is so valuable, and getting good grades is so important. The only reason why they're important is because we artificially make them important. Employers only want students of a certain grade point average. People from prestigious schools get higher salaries. Schools now can charge exorbitant tuition fees. Students take out monster loans, go into monster debt, and spend the rest of their lives paying back those loans. And meanwhile schools get rich. All because of a conspiracy that we create for ourselves.
To make it worse, people who don't get A's and B's are basically sent the message from the conspiracy that they're not good enough. They didn't study hard enough. They didn't work hard enough. They're not smart enough. When the truth is, they're just not academic enough. Maybe they don't learn by reading out of a book and spitting it back on a test. Maybe they don't learn by doing all the odd numbered questions from one through fifty. And you know what? They shouldn't care. The problem with education isn't the people with bad grades. The problem is all the arrogant people with good grades.
The good news is with all the new stuff on the internet - YouTube, blogs, Ebay stores - your GPA has never mattered less. Michael Dell struggled in school, dropped out, and started what became a billion dollar company. Robert Kiyosaki failed English twice... and now is a best selling author. All you need to do is to provide value to someone somewhere, and you can earn a good, even great living. People should be taught ways to do THAT.
So all you C, D, F students... Take your report card and give it a big middle finger. Then go out and learn in the real world. The world needs you.
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8 comments:
Our senior year of college we had a lab due the day before spring break. The problem is 3 of the 4 in my group were leaving a week early for a conference, so we decided to get the lab done a week early knowing it wouldn't be as good.
The report came back with a note: "This is not a serious effort, in industry you would be seen as incompetent," it was the only thing from college to make it on the fridge in our apartment.
First off, it's cool you're honest about your grade when those arrogant A students might scoff at you on your own blog.
I think an interesting study would be to follow a HS/College class and catch up with the students 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years later. Seeing some kind of graph that shows what grades/GPA the most financially well-off students would be a good lesson for everyone!
it's an interesting point....another is that i've found my grades don't usually reflect my work effort. most (not all) of my A's have been the result of regurgitation, minimal effort, my B's and the few *gasp* D's were lack of caring and brushing the class off. My C's however? they were the really unique ones. I have a few C's. and in nearly all of those classes, those were the classes that i really worked hard and learned the most...my grade did not reflect my effort or the overall value of the class...I am more proud of most of my Cs than any other grade, because i didn't do much work for my other grades. (Just for the record, i don't have THAT many C's, and i've been in college for nearly 10 years, which is a whole other issue)
word.
I agree with Kathy; I've noticed the same in my educational endeavors.
Dale - awesome blog. I hate the education system in the US and it is begining to show it's flaws. I believe schools focused on learning and application versus the crap we have today will become more popular (like TrumpU, forget abot keeping score, learn what you need to have a fulfilling career).
If I were a teacher I'd love to focus on teaching what I think is most ractical for their lives veruss teaching to a standardized test. Obviously basic finance (including debt) would be added. Also if I were a successful teacher I would get everyone to learn and reapply the course work in a practical setting, in which case they all would deserve an A. Having to fit a curve of grades is total BS, it's not a measure of learning as much as it is a measure of RELATIVITY to those taking it at that time.
My entreprenuerial class would require students to turn a profit in some basic business model.
I'm with ya Tom. As part of a class, I'd like to give them a chance to fail a bunch of times too. Teach them the concept of stretch goals (not the way P&G does them, but the real way... that you set your goals so stretching that 50% of the time you don't hit them).
Great blog--I agree with Kathy. There were a couple classes I struggled for my C and put forth probably 50X more effort than some of my classes that I breezed through with an A.
I also agree that we are taught for standardized tests, not to learn.
I don't see this changing any time soon, the no child left behind has pretty much said stuff it to the teachers that don't teach for standardized tests..
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