You are on page 1of 3

Phimchanok Eakkaparksawat (Praewa) 1007 18 March 19

Can Grades Determine People’s Success?

What really are the main uses of grades in your perspective? Most people would use it to
compare kids since primary school year and determine whether they will be successful or not.
Grades could not define people. I believe that people shouldn’t be defined by their grades
because people’s skills and also experiences: one of the most important factors that make a
person suitable for a job, couldn’t be shown by grades.
Interests and skills are different in each person and these abilities could not be directly
tested out through examination. This means that grades won’t be able to clearly illustrate a
person’s ability. With grades, teachers and universities would be able to filter out people and
use it to check students’ participation. However, Bill Gates, one of the most well-known person
in the computer industry, proved it wrong. According to the biography, Insight from the World's
Greatest Entrepreneur, “Even at Harvard, Gates continued his pattern of getting good grades in
the subjects he liked and disdaining those that were of little interest. His heart didn't seem to be
in his studies.” The sentence “getting good grades in the subject he likes and disdaining those
that were of little interest”(“What were Bill Gates’ grades at Harvard?” n.d.) suggested that
instead of participating in every subject, Gates only participate in the subject he is “interested”
in. This made Gates decided to exit the school. By pursuing his interest, it leads him to a
successful life and became one of the most memorable person in the computer industrials. This
could be further proved by Judith Harackiewicz of the University of Wisconsin. She had a
seven-year-long study on this particular topic of interest in people. It is tested out that due to the
“knowledge emotions” which is the feeling that characterizes interest and having this emotion it
makes “we pay closer attention; we process the information more efficiently; we employ more
effective learning strategies.” (Silvia, n.d.). Harackiewicz then finally performed an experiment
and came up with a conclusion saying that “ research has found that interest is a more powerful
predictor of future choices than prior achievement or demographic variables.” (Silvia, n.d.). This
vividly shows that interest predicted outcomes more accurately than the given grades in each
initial courses and also controls people’s participation.
Moreover, practical experiences are just as important as theoretical knowledge.
However, exams and grades fail to show this. According to Steve Job’s diploma, he ended high
school with a GPA of 2.6, which is a c grade. He built a small partnership company with Steve
Wozniak called “Apple”. Encyclopedia world biography website wrote, “Jobs and Wozniak
redesigned their computer, with the idea of selling it to individual users.”(Encryption of world
biography, n.d.) This shows how they used their experiences to find the gap in the market and
fill it, also used strategic thinking to “redesign” their old product by using their ability to solve the
advanced electronic and built a new market and maybe the abilities it takes to get a good high
school grade record are useless when compared to the practical skills it takes to build up a
$450 billion company.” All of these are neither on the school syllabus nor examinations but can
only found in real life experience. As another example from the most famous person, Cameron
Diaz. Diaz dropped out of school at the age of 16 to pursue a modelling career and started to be
an actor in 1994. Goal cast website wrote, “Diaz’ 2011 Bad Teacher and 2014’s The Other
Women both surprised at the box office, making roughly $200 million with a low budget and little
marketing”(Valentine, 2018). This suggests that she took 17 years to collect the practical
experiences and skills before she would become well known and successful in her acting skills.
This then proves that actually we rarely use the information written neither in the textbook nor
examination, but mostly it requires the practical experiences and skills in order to be successful
in work.
In conclusion, grades only define people’s remembrance and ability to answer the given
questions, neither their ability, interest nor practical experiences are evaluated by grades.
Therefore, grades are not reliable when it comes to as a comparison between people because
“In the end, test scores and grades are not the only factors” -Keith Todd.
Works Cited

- Silvia, P. (n.d.). Knowledge Emotions: Feelings that Foster Learning, Exploring,

and Reflecting. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from

https://nobaproject.com/modules/knowledge-emotions-feelings-that-foster-learnin

g-exploring-and-reflecting

- Valentine, M. (2018, June 28). 5 Successful People Who Didn’t Get Good

Grades in School. Retrieved December 6, 2018, from

https://www.goalcast.com/2018/06/28/successful-people-who-didnt-get-good-gra

des-in-school/

- What were Bill Gates’ grades at Harvard? (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2018,

from ​https://www.quora.com/What-were-Bill-Gates-grades-at-Harvard

You might also like