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Good Grades Outweighing Knowledge

A high school student wakes up in the morning and gets ready to go to school. She has a Spanish test today. She studied for hours the night before, but all that Spanish she learned is not likely to help her later in life. She does not plan on going to Spain or pursuing a job that would require her to speak Spanish. She only cares about receiving a good grade. Actually, learning information in school has become completely meaningless to her and to so many other students like her.

High school is a time to achieve high standards.  But because of this, school has become about getting good grades to get into a good college rather than being about gaining knowledge to prepare for the future.

If students study for a test the night before, take the test the next morning and then forget everything that was on the test the next day, there was no point in even learning the information. The only thing they get out of it is a good grade in a record book. However, for some students this is all that matters.  But what students need to see is that there is value in learning in order to exceed in life; there is more to success than just getting good grades. Good grades are needed to get into college, but they do not define what one has actually learned.

“Once you take the actual learning aspect out of school it becomes all about the numbers,” said senior, Jeffrey Lauck.

The pressure to get good grades has caused students to cheat in order to succeed. According to one Yale study conducted in 2013, 70% of high school students admitted to cheating. Students are told that cheating is wrong because they are attempting to earn a grade they do not deserve. A grade earned by cheating is not reflective of student’s true achievement. So then why do students cheat?

They cheat because they feel obligated by the pressure they put on themselves, or the pressure put on them by teachers, or parents to receive good grades. Cheating is also caused by pressure or stress. High school is a stressful time in a teenager’s life and while grades are important they normally are not their only priority. Most have sports, hobbies, jobs ,and clubs to attend. This certainly is no excuse to be slacking in school, but it could take up study time which can lead to students cheating as well.

While many students are willing to cheat in order to get good grades there are also those who do not. Getting good grades can make one feel good about themselves for a short period of time, but actually being able to answer a question if asked in the future can be rewarding as well. Students who study and consistently earn good grades on their own should be proud of what they are doing.

“I think in general we prepare our students really well for college, but everyone is an individual,” said Kurt Ogren, principal of Woodland. “And what students put in [to school] is what they get out of it.”