Opinion
From GPA to Gains: A New Approach to Learning and Achievement
It is the need of the hour to make a paradigm shift from grades to gains.
Gains vs Grades – what a diabolically opposite position the title has taken when they should be complimentary to each other.
Grades have absolutely no relevance in life but have assumed a pseudo-magnanimity when you are a student. I have an interesting observation to share. Success isn’t defined by the grades you achieve in school. Grades do open doors, it is an entry but that’s where it ends, at the threshold! After that what matters are study skills, work ethics, and commitment to being the best version of yourself. And honestly, my backbenchers always outperformed my stars in a class far too many times, in life!
It was an important lesson that I learned from my parents actually, my mother. Always concentrate on the efforts put in not the result. Results do matter but gain more than grades have a direct connection to it. A wonderful session by the motivational speaker Simon Sinek in some way indirectly perpetuates this fact. He states based on research that the human brain does not understand negative transmissions. A skier if told ‘do not look at the trees’ would end up looking at them and lose focus of the path that he needs to tread at neck break speed. But instead, if the skier was told to look at only the path, he naturally only focuses on single-mindedly getting through the slopes by concentrating on how he needs to get to the end goal. Imagine if every educator and every parent maintained a stance that helped the student focus on gains than grades. We would all be looking at a higher purpose or goal than just an A+ or the ridiculous expectation of a 100% score.
Hopefully, now that we are at the brink of the AI age maybe and it’s euphoria to believe so, we will not need a gradation system. Let’s imagine like in a Sci-fi movie AI can gauge the extent of knowledge and understanding a student possesses. It may seem a bit robotic but aren’t even the present exercises equally robotic in a manual way today? We standardize everything, expect the same answers, study the same material, and aspire to the same goals. In the industrial age, this was looked upon to be an equalizer, but that age is history today so why have we not adopted a better system that matches our requirements?
An interesting survey that was conducted during the pandemic stating that 60% of the working population wanted to change their profession or engage in a passionate and creditable form of employment. What does that say about the effects of the present reporting system or our education system? How relevant is it when it can’t help you find your calling, help you create a place of your own in society without feeling threatened or challenged, or the need to be a conformist?
There is the famous “Bell Curve” used as a parameter for understanding the makeup of the classroom. If I use that as a yard stick for satisfaction with who you are in life based on the data above, then 15% of the population is very happy and 15% is miserably unhappy but 60% will always try to get there: to be happy or save yourself from being miserable. Then does that mean it’s gain, relatively yes, literally no?
Gain is defined as a verb that means to obtain or secure something desirable; reach or arrive at a destination. As a noun is defined: an increase in wealth or resources; or the increase of power or voltage in an amplifier. By no means do grades relate in any way to the description above. It is a need of the hour to make a paradigm shift from grades to gains.
Let’s start mapping students to understanding than objectives. Let’s match students to aptitude than pay packets. Let’s start equating success to being content than a bank balance. It may seem herculean but not impossible. Let’s start the journey from grades to gains!
Author – Akshada Kamat, Head of School, Vedanya International School