Grades or Bust!

While reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (I just realized that I haven’t hyperlinked much text in the last while…I suppose it’s just a little extra time out of my day whereas you can just Google anything your heart desires…) I came across this interesting concept where a teacher didn’t provide grades throughout the term which pissed off people at first, but then it changed the way students approached the learning angle – they actually ended up producing better work and paid more attention in class (as opposed to the end of term slump where everyone knows their marks anyhow and they don’t really care). It shows that students should be in an institution of education to learn and not to get a grade.

This was an interesting concept as it ties into the whole theory that you should be educated because you want to be, not because you are told to. Granted, this doesn’t work for children…they wouldn’t know any better. Or would they? While reading Race Against Time I am finding that as soon as gov’ts eliminate school fees, 1000’s of children are coming to school because they wish to learn. This is hard concept for a lot of people who have grown up in the education system we have here, where everyone gets an education…my prof mentioned that it’s funny to see that University courses are the one thing in the world that you pay a lof of money for, but are ecstatic if it gets cancelled one day! Imagine an opposite scenario where you had to give the Prof $100 each class you attended for a three hour lecture. No wonder the universities take their tuition up front!

Anyhow, I feel that I am now entering the point in my life where I am wanting to be educated, and not for grades. I recall when I decided to return to University, I was driven by the fact that if I didn’t have a degree, I would probably not be able to become a Director one day. That was my driving force. I didn’t even really know if I would enjoy Communications…the only reason I took it was because it was a 90 credit course.

But I slowly realized that I enjoy going back to class as I get to learn something. I put a lot of actual thought into the essays I’ve written and it’s something I actually care about. I look at what errors I’ve made and where I can improve. This isn’t the Palmer of yesteryear where he just cared about his grades…this is the Palmer of now where I am more concerned of what I take from the class.

Prof. Lowes says that the best students don’t get the best grades. I am starting to see why he says that.