Grades and Self-Esteem
When you were in school, were you an A student? Maybe you were a C student? Did you struggle in a certain subject? Were you valedictorian? Or maybe you were mad when you ranked #2 in your graduating class. How did those experiences make you feel? What feedback did that give you about who you were as a person? Identity is complicated. As teachers, we have power over how a student begins to create his/her own identity. Whether they appear to care or not, the value ratings that teachers give out as grades can profoundly affect what a student thinks about himself/herself. Grades and self-esteem, even self-identity can be hopelessly intertwined. What is the effect on the student?
A Typical Classroom Experience
Let’s take a look at the typical classroom experience and look at the connection between grades and self-esteem. Normally, a teacher works hard to present material, arrange learning activities, oversees reviews, on a particular unit of study. These activities are followed by a test. Following the test, the teacher gives each student a value rating on how well they learned the material. Then the teacher and the class move on to the next unit of study. In the meantime, while we teachers so casually waltz on to the next unit, the student is taking in information about his world that reflects on his self-identity. They are literally building the foundation of who they will be one day.
Grades and Self-Esteem/Self-Identity
All people are constantly telling themselves a subconscious story about who they are and what value they bring to the world. If a student receives A’s in school, he will often feel proud of his contribution to society and endeavor to continue earning good grades. While this seems like a desirable outcome, often these students start to develop anxiety around grades and will often lose track of the actual learning. Instead, they do whatever they need to in order to get the A. This is not true learning and often reinforces the self-identity story that the student is worthy as long as they continue to achieve the A. The learning actually becomes secondary to getting a grade. Sometimes these students even give up their individual thinking in order to simply produce what they think the teacher wants to see.
The student who gets F’s is also telling himself a story. If he continues to get F’s, he will conclude that he “isn’t good at school.” He will often become frustrated and stop trying to improve. This is very similar to the theory of Learned Helplessness. The student continues to receive F’s and eventually decides that it’s better to simply give up and save his dignity by not trying anymore. Continuing to give this student F’s will not motivate him to try for better grades. This student will have to find his value to society elsewhere – if he ever finds it at all.
How Do These Stories Affect Students?
No matter what grade the student receives, it is still feedback that becomes part of the story of self-identity students tell themselves. Have you ever noticed that students tend to get the same grades they’ve always received? That the A student will continue to get A’s and the F student will continue to fail? (Or maybe he’ll switch it up and get a D- if he decides he wants to move on to the next grade.) We teachers seem to think that grades motivate students to do their best but that is often not the case. Instead, grades become a part of the story of how a student judges his/her own value. Once the student has decided what grades he deserves, he will often perpetuate this self-fulfilling prophecy that confirms his own bias.
So What Should Teachers Do?
I believe I have a strategy that takes a step in the right direction. It takes some of the power out of grades as value ratings. I will be happy to share it with you in next week’s blog! Until then, if you want to connect, feel free to send me a message on my Facebook page. I’d love to connect with you! Until next time remember, Empowered Teachers Empower Students and Empowered Students Learn!
