“Making The Grade”

Many schools hold students to a high standard, and do what they can to encourage students to do their best. Some students crash and burn under the pressure, while others simply do not have the ability to do well in school. While students spend most of their lives at school, they still have a life outside of school that teachers do not know fully. Most teachers will believe they know students well enough to judge them on performance alone. However, many students have great potential that they need help unlocking, and many times this cannot be seen in schoolwork. As this is the case, many teachers should reconsider judging their students on performance alone, as one’s potential could be great and yet invisible to the eye of an educator.

All students are different and have different needs. For example, a student with attention problems should be helped so that they can focus, and a student who has trouble reading should also be assisted when having to read a novel in literature. However, these needs aren’t alway addressed by teachers, and are often relabeled as laziness and easily distracted. disorders are also common in students, which hinder their ability to work properly in a school environment. Teachers commonly glaze over this fact, and believe that a child that is doing their best is just lazy. Lack of effort to help kids and students is found in many schools, not from the students, but from the teachers, as they only care to see their academic performance in school rather than what they could do if given the necessary help. Even without disorders, many students still will not give their all in class unless motivated to do so, and many teachers are not the best cheerleaders. Most teachers also believe that if their “problematic” student actually tried and did not let their needs obstruct their work, then they will get anything they believe accomplished. they’re wrong, most of the time.

School itself is not a place to judge a student’s overall character and ability, and has been found to be harmful for some. Scientists have proven that the brain of a student (usually a child) does not fully function until 10 AM. Most schools, however, start at seven and eight in the morning, which warps the brain’s functionality for a few hours. Added to this, most students view school in a negative light because it drains them of feeling and forces them to work for at least eight hours a day. Studies have shown that school is a leading reason for depression in teens, and many students do not feel well at school. With all of this weighing down on students day to day, teachers should take consideration in how a student could do if school was less strenuous on them, rather than how it currently is. A student’s performance is constantly brought down by the existence of current-day school and what they must go through to be successful in it.

Students and teachers, admittedly, do not alway have the best relationship. Some teachers are overbearing or too tough on their students, and in return these students will despise them. However, this should never mean that a student lacks potential. In fact, no student should be judged specifically on performance in class, as they have much more to offer than how well they can take a test or what their skill in writing an essay while timed is. All students have potential to be great, yet they cannot always unlock it, and as a result teachers should help them, not hinder through multitudes of work and not caring about what can make their students truly successful.