In Education, It's Not All About Grades

I hear it often, "Brother Victorious, does this assignment count for a grade?" "Is my assignment the best in the class?" "I’m way smarter than you, my grades are way better." Call me weird, but school should be about life-long education, not a trivial letter grade. It’s as if we're programming our youth into grade orientated robots, no longer emphasizing the true purpose of education, which is to master information and use it to improve the world.

Whether you are an educator, parent or community worker, our youth should strive for the very best and push themselves to be greater human beings. As an educator, my sole job is to polish their strengths and help improve their weaknesses so they can be effective citizens. Intrinsic motivation is always the most difficult to tap into, yet once it is tapped, it will help sustain youth through their adult years.

To many adults, this may be a totally new idea so here are a couple of tricks to help build intrinsic motivation within students:

Continually praise their effort

Anytime students complete a task, be sure to ask them sincerely, “did you try your very best?” You will be surprised with their honesty. This will help them reflect on their own effort and not someone else’s. Many students have low academic esteem because they received bad grades their entire educational career. It is important to help improve their esteem through positive support.

Slow down on your rubrics

Be sure to give students assignments that allow them to express their creativity.  Limit the things they have to do and give them more room to complete assignments they want to do. Create a framework for them to shine through their class work. 

Youth must know that grades are merely just a way for educators, their parents and colleges to keep track of their progress. So, if you are pushing yourself to be great, your academic grades will fall into place.

There is no need to compete with others because each student has something unique to share with the world. We have to teach our youth to master themselves and pull out the divine energy that exists within them.