Degrees and Success
this success. First, I will outline my concerns about the exams and grades, and then share the four preconditions for Degrees and Success.
Parents and students believe that high exam grades guarantee a child's future success. However, in my opinion, the ratings hardly influence this success. First, I will outline my concerns about the exams and grades, and then share the four preconditions for Degrees and Success.
First, the exam results are not comparable with each other. The grades depend on the examiners and the year in which the examination takes place. It is impossible to compare the results of exams from different years, because the level and quality of these exams is different each year. It is not possible to compare school grades between schools as one student may be assessed differently by different teachers. Therefore, high grades are not an indicator of the knowledge and skills acquired by a student. Every employer who employs a graduate of the school knows this.
Secondly, knowledge and skills tested in the exam are not what helps to achieve success in life. At school, we do not teach what will be useful in future work. What really comes in handy is the ability to collaborate, communicate, select, analyze, evaluate etc.
A third issue is also related to this - school and examination grades do not translate into skills that are used and needed in adult life.
Success does not depend on grades obtained at school. In my experience, it is impossible to predict what a student's career will be based on their performance at school. I have contact with many of my students who are already working and leading adult lives. I have both examples of students who did not achieve high achievements with dizzying careers and those who have had good grades and a successful professional life. Unfortunately, I also know failures with both good and poor students.
What, then, influences professional satisfaction and success?
- Recognize the values
The student should recognize what values ‹‹are important to him and plan his future so that these values ‹‹are present in it. It is connected with the mission of performed work, if it satisfies a person, then he or she has a chance to move towards success. If work is not consistent with the values, then a person is not able to get satisfaction from it.
Recognition of values ‹‹is not easy, you can succumb to fashion or appearances and be seduced by shallow values. Shallow or even bad values ‹‹are superficial, selfish and dependent on external factors. For example, striving for material success, the need for adoration, and the desire to be popular show how poorly set values ‹‹can negatively affect a person's life and set low standards for him.
Desired values ‹‹are based on honesty, the good of others and are achieved internally. Focusing on "good" values, man works with greater enthusiasm, because work is important for him, and not only material. Thanks to commitment, a person has a chance of success.
The distinction between values ‹‹should be made when we are children, that is, at school. The implementation of the core curriculum does not give the teacher a lot of time to shape the student's relationship to values. And grading causes a child to learn for reward or to avoid punishment, i.e. losing internal motivation and being steered towards external values.
If students manage to choose the values ‹‹on which they will build their lives, then their choice of a life career may result in success.
- Seek satisfaction
It is difficult for a young man to choose the type of his professional career. It is difficult to choose the type of study, let alone the type of job.
Working with high school students, I saw that few of them knew what they wanted to do in life. They often follow the family tradition, for example, if their parents are doctors, they choose medicine, etc. Career guidance works poorly at an early age. There are no simple solutions and advice here.
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They chose a job for the semester that they would like to "try" and they did their internships there for several months. I talked to a girl whose dream was to be a surgeon and during her internship at the hospital she fainted every time she saw blood. She concluded that it is better to choose other studies in the future
It seems easier for me to increase the freedom to change. Many of my students came to me after school and, ashamed, declared that they had changed their field of study. I was delighted because it allowed them to plan a better, more appropriate career for themselves.
When we engage in work that is of value and importance to us, our brain releases dopamine which stimulates excitement, curiosity and motivation.
Unfortunately, the drawback of the school is that it is out of touch with reality. Teachers do not know anything about many professions because they are new, and they cannot say much about other jobs because they did not perform them.
An important guideline is the student's decision that the job they choose will bring them satisfaction. It is worth trying to make the right choice, because this is exactly the success.
- Create relationships
Working alone is often unsatisfactory. By working with others, in good relations with them, we do work more efficiently and better. A young person who begins work should be able to establish relationships and feel community with others in the implementation of challenges.
Does the school teach it?
Sometimes yes, but most often it happens alongside the teacher's efforts. For many students, contacts with other students are the most important. The school can influence the building of relations between students, e.g. by working in groups, jointly implementing projects and challenges.
However, we teachers often make sure that the student learns on his own, we test his knowledge through tests that the student writes individually, and all attempts to cooperate are branded as cheating. It is influenced by the so-called - fair evaluation. Is it difficult to evaluate each student's contribution to the joint work?
In adulthood, it is the team that carries out the project and everyone cares about its good execution, because the boss or someone else's assessment will consist in assessing the effect, not the contribution of a single employee. The reality of school and adult life at work is dissolving. A student learned to compete and award grades will find it difficult to adapt to the teamwork that is already common in the world. The only competition we can teach children is to compete with ourselves to be better than ourselves.
People have a strong need to belong to a "tribe", a certain team. At school there is an opportunity to build a class and school community and you have to take care of them. Then the adult person will be able to build relationships and work with others.
- Build self-confidence
Self-esteem and the belief that you will succeed are key to success. Thanks to them, you can try to change something and not fail.
Does the school build students' self-esteem? Many teachers think so, because if a student gets good grades, their self-esteem increases. In my opinion, this is not true.
Let's take a student who doesn't get good grades, he gets a message that he is weak. Even if he does manage to improve the grade, it is only an improved grade, not an evaluation of his previous effort and efforts. You must have come across school memories like: "I never knew mathematics, I barely passed my secondary school-leaving examination, and only breathed a breath during my studies.
Now let's take a student who gets good grades, he gets used to them and they stop being a reward for him. On the other hand, when he receives a lower grade, he cannot rise from failure.
In my opinion, the degree has only a negative effect on the student's self-esteem. What the learner should receive is tailored feedback that allows him to appreciate what he did right, correct what he did wrong and develop further. We teach children at school that everything is graded. When a student graduates from school, he does not receive any grades at work, at most he receives feedback about his work.
If a student receives feedback about his or her work more often at school, he will learn to use it and improve it thanks to it, and this is what he will need at work.
