Grades Are Not a Do-or-Die Situation 📕

There was a sentence a lecturer/lab attendant told me once that lives rent free in my head:

Grades are not a do or die situation

Why did he make this statement?

Back when I was in 300 level in Unilag, I offered a course from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering department. We usually had practical classes where we go to the laboratory to work.

The protocol was to stand for long hours during the lab sessions. Students were expected to stand while carrying out experiments and recording observations. It was so draining.

One practical session, I was very sick. Normally, we students stand during the practicals but I had to get a seat because my body was already weak.

When I grabbed a chair and say, the lab attendant gave this weird look to me, because it's a taboo to be seated when taking lectures or having laboratory sessions.

He walked up to me to reprimand me but I quickly told him I wasn't feeling well. His reply was: "Then what are you doing here? You are supposed to go and take care of yourself. it's not a do or die situation. You could just join the next batch to take your own practical "

In Nigeria, we have this fear of our lectures and the school system. I can understand because the system isn't too friendly. If you miss an exam or test or even classes, you will find yourself to blame. That's why you would see students that are sick still showing up when they should be at the hospital receiving medication.

What I'm trying to bring out from all these is that, it's good for schools and even the students to be competitive as it pushes you to work harder and smarter. But that shouldn't make you compromise your health, your morals and your mental state.

I remember in my year 1, my first result was terrible. I wrote a physics exam and after I was done, crazy thoughts started coming to head. I literally wanted to hurt myself.

Society and the education system has made students attach their self worth to grades and that's wrong thinking.

I have been in exam halls where students carry dubs for a one unit course. It's sad that students decide to do anything just to pass exams. I have seen students take hard drugs to stay alert during exams. Some take high dose of caffeine to stay awake.

It's sad that these days, students care more about just passing and moving on with their lives than actually learning to get knowledge for application in the real world.

Schools can help by creating better ways to test students knowledge. A lot of smart students aren't the best at writing exams.

School could also council students more. A lot of people don't know how to handle failure. I have seen people fall into depression because they had a B in a course, and that's not even a terrible score but the competitiveness mindset makes you forget your little wins and make you beat yourself over something that wouldn't even matter later on. Failing isn't the end of the world.

Parents too contribute to this. Parents often set high expectations for their children. This makes students envy another classmate and decide to do all it takes to get better grades even if it means compromising his health and morals.

At the end, students should understand one thing:

You are allowed to fail. It's not the end of the world. Do your best and leave the rest.

You can also be competitive in a healthy way without losing yourself.

Education should build people and not break people instead.

✨ Hive Learners Prompt Week 207 Episode 03: A SIMPLE EDUCATION