The Problem with Grades Over Learning Education

I remember back when I attempted cheating, I had classmates who got suspended for cheating, and I felt stupid because my grades weren't good in high school. True, most of my college grades were above passing and I never had a single back subject. I eventually managed to get an MBA hence why I put the suffix MBA in my username. However, I'd like to revisit the problems I've had, the fights I've had with my parents during my student days, and how I really wanted to drop out of school too many times because it was "too hard and boring". I even remember throwing tantrums whenever I never liked the lesson. It was in fourth-year high school (under K+10) when those tantrums got so worse. It's because of the grading system that says, "Your grades will determine your future!" Even worse, they kept saying that with not getting good grades in mathematics and science, we're told, "Just take HRM!" Even our best teachers never knew that Hospitality Management is never an easy course. A relative of mine even said, "If it was so easy then try managing a hotel without being taught how to do so!"

I think the big problem is all about grades over learning. Teachers have very little to no choice. Schools have very little to no choice. It's because the Department of Education (DepEd) which was back then, known as DECS (meaning Department of Education, Culture, and Sports) had the bigger say about education. So schools had very little to no choice but to follow the curriculum. The vicious cycle of generations can be from parents to the child to the grandchild. Even worse, there's a focus on too much memorization rather than memorization with understanding. Memorization helps but again we know too much of a good thing is bad.

It didn't matter what subject was taught. Everything was practically summarized as, "As long as you pass!", "Get a high grade!", or "Stop asking questions." What happened to the values of a good scientist which include curiosity and open-mindedness? Can you imagine if great scientists (which includes mathematicians) from the distant past had the attitude of, "As long as you pass?" Can you imagine if the great mathematicians of the past said only cared more about grades than learning? Right now, the subjects that are deemed "useless" wouldn't even exist. Trigonometry, calculus, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, biology, and every related subject will not even be taught. Yet, it becomes the harsh reality that happens. So, everything from language to history to science to mathematics is simply said, "Stop asking questions! Just study!" Studying is part of life. However, how can one effectively study if they don't ask questions? 

I'd say that was probably the problem of every language teacher. It's a common complaint I hear year after year from Chinese language teachers. Students can randomly get a high grade on a quiz but never learn to read. Many times, Chinese language teachers were still forced to stick to zhuyin (because it allegedly made learning "better") instead of teaching the easier pinyin. I admit my grades in Chinese were bad. I never saw it as important until Taiwanese shows started airing on local Philippine TV. Students simply learned how to write characters down a bit not understand the meaning. I'd blame the big problem as all related to teaching how to memorize instead of how to speak. A classmate of mine in high school got suspended for cheating in a Chinese class. I also attempted cheating in a Chinese class. It's a very common problem to have cheating in a Chinese class. Yet, Chinese language teachers have no choice but to conform to it. Many even finished Chinese in high school but never learned to properly speak Mandarin. A lot of people who did menial jobs in Taiwan can speak better Mandarin than them! That's why I even felt I might want to do menial jobs in Taiwan and study Mandarin there!

I'd say life would be boring if I didn't know those "useless" subjects. However, I do feel stupid that I never knew how economics and calculus are used only in college. I only knew about how trigonometry was used in a two-year computer course which I barely passed. I only appreciated learning biology, chemistry, and physics later in life. Life would be boring if all I focused on was office work. The "useless" subjects did get me to understand why this and that are used in construction, in food preparation, I could appreciate a lot of maths as to why I could enjoy IT Park, and I'm not stuck to a monotonous routine. However, I'd still dare point out that emphasizing too much on the grades on the "useless" subjects made them feel useless. I mean, not everyone is meant to be taking elite courses (that is, science-intensive courses). Besides, I only wanted to take Information Technology (IT) back then only because it was the hype. Never mind that my mathematical ability wasn't suited for that kind of course. Eventually, so many got eliminated from the IT courses so fast! 

Later, I started to feel less insecure about me having problems with my grades. I even felt that "Why wasn't this taught in school?" It's especially true about investing in the stock market. Right now, I even feel embarrassed that I pursued an MBA degree but never knew about stuff like the Cash to Go program or even basic stock market investing. We had a symposium and yet we weren't taught how to really deal with stocks. Even more, there are now books and you can look online on how to do stock trading. Some people feel stock trading is just for professionals. However, Warren Buffett begs to differ when he recommends a low-cost index fund. When I started reading more about Buffett's investment, I felt like, "Did we just waste money in school?" That's why I even wrote about Buffett's investment methods that aren't taught in school (read here).

Even worse, parents have become accomplices in this and not just teachers. Oftentimes, a child asks, "How is this used?" The parent says, "Never mind that! Just focus on the lesson!" It reminds me of how tutorial time can be that stressful. Parents would even emphasize getting good grades over learning. On extremes, they will force their child towards getting the first place. With that in mind, some schools do practice "grade buying" to a certain extent, as long as it's not that obvious. It's like how the salutatorian became the valedictorian because of money. If the child's natural curiosity in learning is squashed, parents really are accomplices in why their children are becoming fools. They have the nerve to call their children "Stupid!" and "Idiot!" when they themselves are participants in the whole faulty system that values grades over learning. Some of them even get touchy when they're asked about their grades. Did they really do better than their children? Even so, the academic curriculum decades ago was easier than it is today! In my case, I'm more than ready to admit I almost didn't graduate high school, I hated school back then, and even if I did get better in college, I'm still more than willing to admit that I wasn't a good student in high school. Meanwhile, some people will still lie that they were brilliant scholars even while they refuse to have their happy birthday grades revealed to protect their facade. In my case, I never shied away from admitting I nearly didn't graduate high school when people think I'm a genius. 

This post isn't meant to glorify cheating. Cheating is still a severe offense in any shape or form. However, I feel the school system may be suffering from a bad case of double standards. The education system has cheated us of real education. How many times are lessons taught but there's no real application? Lessons are getting harder because new information is generated daily. However, students are cheated of the opportunity to learn the hard lessons without compromising learning with obsolete methods. If the education system still insists on not making any changes at all--we might as well make cheating legal. It's because if the school system cheats on students of a real education then cheating should be legalized. If we want to dramatically reduce cheating, we need to really (and seriously) change the way education is done. This is all about giving people fewer reasons to cheat. 

All this can be summarized as an outdated education system (read here). I believe we still need to have hard work and performance ratings. However, we need to focus on cooperation instead of competition to get the top spot in the class. Class rankings for me are getting overrated. Singapore has done away with it choosing to focus with cooperation. Sure, we do need brilliant students to help those lagging behind. However, I think classroom ranking can be more detrimental as some people will still say, "I'm just dumb as a post!" type of talk. I'd say the Philippines can learn from Singapore's education system to produce better citizens.