Grades Don’t Tell the Whole Story

A retired math teacher and a retired English teacher met in the nursing home where they now lived. They chatted about the past and their former students. "I had a student once, Steven," said the math teacher. "He was terrible at math. No matter how I tried, I just couldn’t teach him. And every time I told him he needed to try harder, he would cry. I even spoke to his mother, but she said he was highly sensitive and trying his best. In the end, I had no choice but to let him fail the exam." 
He shook his head and continued, "Recently, I had serious back pain and went to see a physiotherapist. And who walks in to help me? Steven! That boy has golden hands. After just a few treatments, my pain was completely gone. It’s incredible how he just feels what’s wrong. If I had to give him a grade now  I’d know exactly what it would be!" The English teacher laughed. "I had a student like that too  Sophie. She didn’t understand anything in my language classes. A hopeless case, I thought. She was always busy with charity work, but studying? Forget it. I tried to motivate her to focus more on her schoolwork because I believed she had potential. Still, she failed her final exam. At the time, I just thought, 'What a shame.' "He paused, smiling. "But you probably know her now. She’s one of the nurses here. Always cheerful, so kind and caring. She’s the best nurse I’ve ever had. If I could grade her now, she’d get a solid ten  with honors!" The two old teachers looked at each other and realized: the grades and judgments they once gave were only a reflection of a subject not a prediction of a life.

Food for thought

• Do grades define someone's worth or just their performance in one moment, in one subject?
• What talents might we overlook when we focus only on academic success?
• How often do we judge potential too soon, based on narrow standards?
• Sometimes the most meaningful skills empathy, healing, kindness can’t be measured with numbers.