To the editor:
High school is important and can occasionally be overwhelming. So, what do students hold to when they need to reestablish their direction, their balance and their motivation?
Learn a lot, work hard and always do your best.
These mantras don’t seem like much, but their power is in their subtlety.
For many reasons, students become obsessed with their grades. Grades matter. Grades sort. Grades open doors — to programs, college, scholarships and more.
Why wouldn’t they want to focus there first? Grades are signals of learning. Though schools discuss going to narrative appraisals of student learning, these more thorough "reports" are great on a smaller scale but are not quite as efficient on a larger scale, when there are tons of students to compare, sort and inform.
However, colleges are shying away from the SAT and ACT. Are they really letting go of quick sorting data? I am not sure. With AP test scores, they have other ways to use quick data beyond just letter grades, GPAs and class ranks. There are so many reasons why we find it tough to look at something else first.
When we see student grades that are low, maybe the first question we should ask those students is, "Are you learning it?" I think this question is the first question we should direct students’ attention to most of the time.
Learning is the reason for schools and classes. If learning is put first, considered first and checked first, then good and/or better grades will follow. Schools know this because they keep asking for teachers to use more and more formative assessments ("ungraded" learning checks) for each summative assessment (which comes at the end of a unit and usually with a grade).
Imagine if schools didn’t have grades (kind of like a classic Montessori school), would they shut down? Would students not go? Would no one want to learn? I would hope that students would still see the inherent value of learning and do everything the same way.
Learning is more of an intrinsic reward and grades are more of an extrinsic reward. When intrinsic motivation is established, the positive lasting effect tends to be larger and more sustaining. Learn a lot.
Work hard. Many students think smart kids do better. It can help to be smart, but it doesn’t help us much to dwell on it. Effort can and often does triumph over an initial natural talent.
Many people who are at all levels of natural ability can and do work very hard. Initially, one cannot grow their natural intelligence fast, but one absolutely has control of their effort.
As students work hard, they can and usually do grow new mental capacities — oftentimes quite dramatically. The longer you work hard the more one can grow and strengthen their brain. This is called neural plasticity. The brain is flexible and can be changed tremendously.
Working hard grows each and every brain to be smarter, stronger and more agile. I don’t know if the mythical 10,000 hours of practice can turn someone into a master of a skill, but we do know that the brain will rewire itself to become more powerful. Practice may not make perfect, but it certainly makes learning more permanent.
One’s brain can and will learn whatever one diligently pursues. Talents are nice and we all have a few of them, but most of us are not talented in most things. Hard work will serve us best in those cases just as it serves us well in our talents.
We spend our lives never feeling adequate because we always compare ourselves to each person that is better than we are in each element of our own lives. Our superficial comparisons merely work to undercut where our true focus should be — always do your best.Â
The classic movie Rudy became iconic because the main character, Rudy Ruettiger, decided to always play his best. Also called areté by the ancient Greeks, this self-improvement life journey manifests itself as an attempt to be a champion of one’s self. Rudy practiced like every play was the ultimate contest. Thus, Rudy always fulfilled the mission of the famous "Play Like a Champion Today" sign in the locker room at University of Notre Dame.Â
We are in a race against our lesser selves. Will you win the race against yours? Everyone can win the race to be their best self. It is a matter of "will" — will we even try? Everyone can even be a "president" of some organization in their life. We can all continually strive for our own greatness. And we can all rise to the top of our own lives in our own ways. As students push themselves toward constant improvement, they always have a reachable goal they can champion. Always do your best.
The gold, silver and bronze medals of school goals are: Learn a lot, work hard and always do your best. Three mini-mantras of meaning.
Alan Hagedorn
Bargersville
