Making the Grade
Students spend a lot of time worrying about grades, but what does that have to do with intelligence?
November 2, 2022
From being told to check their grades everyday and anxiously waiting for that test or quiz score to come in, grades are a big part of students’ lives and some believe they’re not smart enough if they get anything below a high B.
Many students believe that to be recognized as smart, they need to excel in school. They must get all As and take all honors classes. But students apply and acquire knowledge and skills almost everyday, at school and outside of school, leading many to question the relationship between grades and intelligence
When asked about requirements to be intelligent, Freshman Ava Anthony says, “School smarts.”
Anthony says, “Everybody is told by teachers and adults that that’s a requirement.” Nearly everyday students hear from at least one teacher to check their grades. Some parents pressure their kids to get good grades, and sometimes if they don’t there are punishments.
Some people when they see they didn’t do as well on a test or quiz, they wish that they were smarter or that they could be a better student. But students can be smart in ways that aren’t only academic. They can excel in sports, music, cooking/baking, and like as Helffrich said street smarts, and so much more.
That’s why for Freshman Natalie Helffrich street smarts are more important. Helffrich says, “Grades are all older people care about. Parents, teachers, colleges and more…But you can have survival intelligence, like building a fire.”
There are eight types of intelligence according to the Inspiration Guide. There is logical/mathematical, linguistic, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalistic. There’s so many different types, so what grades students have doesn’t have to be determining how smart they are.
Anthony notes, “You can be bad in a course, but actually be good at it, just the teacher of the course is bad.”
Some teachers aren’t updated on students’ preferences with learning. Students can be extremely talented in a class, but may not know it because the teacher doesn’t push them in the right way.
As Freshman Kristina Doan says, “You don’t necessarily need good grades to be successful because you can run your own business and become successful.” Becoming an entrepreneur does not always require having a college degree. She says that some people push themselves because they want to get into a good college, and in order for that they have to have average-good grades. People like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg didn’t finish college and they are seen as very successful and intelligent people.
Doan defines intelligence as, “People that have a lot of knowledge and are really good at skills.” She sometimes helps at a nail salon her parents own. Nail technicians have to be very skilled to do so much work in a day, and by helping/learning about this is having a lot of knowledge and skills.
In order to be successful, students have to do what’s best for them. Students all have different personalities, not one of us is the same. Grades don’t have to determine students’ intelligence, students are all smart in different ways.
Kelyn Marouf • Nov 8, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Faith you did Wonderful on your article! Great quotes, nice transitions, and good references. This his is a strong first article. Keep up the good work!