grades are stopping us from learning
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
- By the way, the tea I show from Bird and Blend (which I made with them) is an affiliate product (so I receive a percentage of profits if you order).
I’ve been wanting to film this for a while now. I'm not an expert on this, just speaking from experience. I would love to hear your thoughts on this and what you think needs to change. Do also let me know if there is anything important I have missed! Very interested to hear contrary points of view too!
See Alfie Kohn’s paper here: www.alfiekohn.org/article/cas... (definitely worth a read! It was also published as an academic paper, but he published it on this website which is a more accessible format).
Mentioned resources and links:
1. Curiosity and Exploration - www.sciencedirect.com/science...
2. Is curiosity good for student’s well-being - hrcak.srce.hr/164747
3. Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in life -link.springer.com/article/10....
4. Other Minds by Peter Godfrey Smith
5. Why go to school? - www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
6. The making of the curriculum - www.taylorfrancis.com/books/m...
7. History in the UK National Curriculum - www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
8. Pass-fail grading by White and Fantone - link.springer.com/article/10....
9. Decisions: proposed changes to the assessment of GCSEs, AS and A Levels in 2022 - www.gov.uk/government/consult...
10. Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic reinforcement and inequity - psycnet.apa.org/record/1972-2...
11. Percentage of students who admit to cheating in some form - unicheck.com/blog/academic-ch...
12. Cheating scholar - www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
13. Autonomy in Children’s Learning - psycnet.apa.org/buy/1987-2653...
14. Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation - bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wile...
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0:00 introduction
1:13 curiosity and why it is important
2:22 my obsession with grades at school
4:18 what is the point of education?
5:35 essentialist education
6:32 we are focusing on grades over content
7:17 the history of formal education
8:17 grades vs. a pass or fail system
8:59 the key problems with grades (introductory points)
10:37 four key problems with grades
15:18 summary of the above
15:56 Alfie Kohn’s suggestions for an improved system
17:03 grades are NOT the important part of school!
19:27 ideas of things you can do to minimise the impact of grades
21:26 outron
One of the main reasons I found my passion for history was the fact that my teacher left nothing out, anything she found interesting about what we were talking about she would tell us. She was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about her subject and it made every class very engaging. That is what school should be about, finding a passion for something. In the end it will help the grades anyway.
I love it when teachers go on massive in depth tangents about a line in a novel we're studying or the history behind something: even if it's not really relevant to what we're "supposed to be doing" in the lesson. Honestly so cool when the teachers are passionate about their subjects!!
its the opposite for my history teacher. He literally lets us sleep in class.. im in a regents (high school level) class and many of the people tend to fail tests because our history teacher never motivates us to strive for our best. its either u do it or you dont. it's why i hate history now
In my Modern American History class back in high school my teacher grew up during a lot of the events he taught us about so it was cool to hear him go really in depth about the times. His memory was great and told us about how he had read over 100 books on the JFK assassination and he really broke down everything surrounding that for us specifically. He managed to draw and maintain the entire class's attention. He would let me borrow his books to read.
My year 4 (grade 3) teacher did the same, he used to love History and especially history in our area. He was very proud about his knowledge. He taught me almost everything I know in history (and yes he taught us like we were alot older and hoped we would do more research on it. Which yes did happen) He even taught us about some famous authors that lived near us and their life (The bronte sisters. Charlotte bronte, Emily bronte and Anne bronte)
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
This is what I love to talk and discuss. How… students are, like, forced to hate learning. I only started to love school and learning in general after I started self-studying about the topics. It changes so much in how I think about school and I’m glad that more and more people are realizing it.
YESSSS
When you say self studying the subjects, what do you mean by that? Do you study the subjects out of school or only when the subjects are brought up in lessons?
@@sunnymist1198 Self-studying as studying on your own; learning about subjects that really interest you.
@@kristenkim exactly!! Diving deeper into stuff that really interests me :)
I think the educators, such as professors, have a strong influence. The professors that enjoy seeing students learn and want as many to learn as possible are so valuable. There are others that seem to seek out ways to publicly humiliate and attempt to mock students for being stupid whilst focusing on maybe two or three students that they favour.
I didn’t have such experiences, but became aware of the phenomenon by observing one particular person in my research work at the university. She was a person that had worked at several universities and left each of the jobs after short periods of time, due to her treatment of students.
I study architecture in Finland and we don’t get grades in almost anything! The teachers tell us that they wan’t to give us more feedback and for us to not focus on the grades. 🙏🏻 I feel really lucky to study here.
I came across a channel describing why Finland education system is the best in the world. Now i get it
@@sumaiyahasan1319 I mean I feel like life with studying gets better in finland once you get to uni in middle school which I just graduated from this year was very heavily only mentioning the importance of grades and that's how they saw your worth too. In grades. I really hated school because of that but there was nothing I could do because I won't be able to change the system like that. Now I'm in high school and even though now we have harder topics with more freedom I go to a certain private school and even if they don't always officially mention it we have midterms every three weeks with the least amount of 3 exams every three weeks. And it's a huge change here when you go to high school, but I still feel like I will be neglected if I don't do well even when it's harder. Teachers here have a habit of being more friendly to those who get better grades. But atleast they don't seem to care so much about the grades as in middle school but there is still some kind of stigma that you're not smart or good if you don't get good grades and haven't learnt this whole new topic with 7 new math formulas in 3 weeks while studying 4 other subjects and expected to sleep and eat well and learn how to keep up. And they do teach the problems in learning but they don't really dive deep into why we should learn how can we get more curious about learning. Now here I am a day before my english exam trying to find a purpose of all this. I'm a native english speaker and I do feel extra preassure to do well, but as in right now I'm not interested in the topic of how english language is built. Why. Because it's all for the exam. They always mention how if we don't *memorize* something we're most likely to do bad in the exam. And how this and that will be in the exam everything is for the exam and nothing else. And when the exam is done what then. What do I do with teh information I just crammed to my head a night before a exam because of stress of doing well in the exam. And I have still never til this day ever met a person who is in school and tries to learn for the sake of learning and nothing else. We all know already by now how much easier studying would be if we would be curious. But we're not and to those who do get perfect scores are extremly stressed and tired usually because of the preassure from teacher and friends and family. But mostly they haven't even understood the concept they just memorized it. And it is a problem here too that I don't feel like i s talked about enough. I have been trying to study the reasoning of people not being able to be curious about things in school since middle school. But whenever I brought up y thoughts to my friends they didn't want to hear it because everything realated to studying was terrifying on it's own. Which is not a good thing at all.
Now I want to go to Finland.
Finland's education system isn't completely about grades! From 7th-9th grades you can already pass a class by just being active and coming to the class.
@@loitsyy You can fail every test and still pass?
Can we also talk about how the study community (influencers and studytubers) is also to blame for perpetuating a toxic image of an ideal student? And all this while profiting off sponsorships and other types of social media revenue? A lot of students feel that they aren't enough unless they are also putting in hours and hours into their studies and having all types "productive routines" with perfectly curated aesthetics (dark academia for example). For years, studytubers have sold students the idea that they too can earn top grades if they just buy the stuff they're advertising. Meanwhile, influencers don't have to worry about working while going to school, financial aid, etc.
@@mandywhitworth3615 Well I think that when someone is doing something and filming it and post it on social media, of course peolpe would start idealizing the showed behavior. But is she at fault tho ? She can only film what she is, herself, doing, and the result she earned throught said method. If she works 12+ hours regularely and earn A grades, then, why wouldn't she give advice on how this method works to earn good grades? If she chased good grades to get into Owford, why wouldn't she share that chasing good grades can be a goal for some students too? I mean, a lot of people can watch her videos and find motivation by seing someone working and giving tips (even though nothing can guarantee that it works with everyone, but neither did she pretend that). She is an ideal student indeed, and it happens that her method made her obtain said grades and earn x amount of knowledge. If people are getting stressed by thinking she is indirectly shaming average or "bad" students or if they think they can obtain the same results as her by doing the same method, then, I don't see how she is to blame. It's not different than someone who have good grades on a regular basis being asked in class by someone else about tips. The fact that it's shared on social media to create a coherent system (certainly a lot of what she is doing besides studying is not showed, as it's not the purpose here) can create an illusion of a "flawless lifestyle", but if you think that way, then, it means you forget that she choose what to show or not, and she has the right to do so. Every YouYube channel doesn't have the same goal, and if you know you have tendency to compare yourself with "ideals" and get stressed by that, then, surely an other channel might suits you better. But there are people who can't be motivated without seing someone being inspirational and work, this channel is here for that type of need.
@@mandywhitworth3615 You may have your opinions but the person is right here. This type of videos and channels can be a source of motivation for some people (for example : I was a student who didn't take school seriously but thanks to this type of videos I found the motivation and I started loving to study). But you're right when you talk about the money and sponsorships they get but it's not their responsibility if someone is so naive and can get influenced easily. This is internet everyone here tries to influence others and make people like their videos so can we blame them ? I don't think so. Your argument is still valid in some point tho.
Definitely yes...and not directing this to any particular ones coz a lot of studytubers are giving amazing and constructive advice like Ruby here, but the whole trend was a bit overwhelming. It was hard to find and subscribe to one that has the right influence on ourselves.
It really takes time to follow someone that gives you positive energy (very personal-wised) and mostly I appreciated their efforts. I think the main problem is still about social media, which is not good for mental health in most cases, and that may breed some toxic studytubers or simply expose and compare ourselves with a lot of elites around the world.
My solution for this is simply leave the community and stick to the ones that truly help your studies, instead of giving unrealistic expectations to them.
I find it funny how Ruby is saying this now that she is out of Uni. We all saw she was obessessing over grades
"For years, studytubers have sold students the idea that they too can earn top grades if they just buy the stuff they're advertising." I doubt any of them could live off their adsense earnings, so they have to supplement their income or eventually stop doing it. This is just capitalism. Socialblade states that Ruby here, who is more successful than most, is earning about £750 a month (roughly $850). You cannot live off that.
I'm in med school and I feel exausted. Yes, its my dream, Yes, I wouldn't choose any other career. But the pressure is absurd and the amount of little things we have to learn for a test is not fair. And then, after the test, we forget a lot of it cause our brain simply doesn't work like the machine they expect it to work like. This video is very necessary. We need to think about those things and try not to be so hard on ourselves. Mental health needs to be a priority always. Great video! Love from Brazil
What do you think who should choose medical field (mbbs)?
This is a big problem everywhere even in the states, the amount of pressure I'm having right now after looking at the calander and realizing it's mid term and i don't even have my research paper finished. Let alone the rest of the experiment and my table.....I haven't even properly learned how to do stats or excel yet. Nor do I have thr tike to watch and learn properly on TH-cam. It's insurmountable at this point then you have people saying if you can't handle it like everyone else can you shouldn't be doing....oh I'm far too stubborn for that I'm getting my stupid piece of paper so I can work with the epa or as an on feild ecologist.
i wonder how our doctors are able to help us get better or healthier when they actually forget many things they were ''taught'' at schools
@X vonPocalypse Nah there was just tons of misinformation put out by people who had massive voices and 0 credibility. Namely the US president at the time. The WHO put out clear guidelines that were simply ignored.
@@_..D Do you know how difficult it is to get into medical school? Do you know the rates of mental illness in medical school? Do you know just how common it is to have a mental illness in medical school? I can guarantee you MOST current practicing medical doctors have felt the same as the OP. But they made it through because they had to. If you've never even tried for anything beyond a Bachelor's degree, your opinion is as meaningless a a toddler's.
This seriously made me cry. Because it is so obvious that grades are harmful, yet the whole school system doesn't learn from all the studies that examine the topic 'studying'. It is paradox.
I went myself from being an extremely curious, creative and self-driven homeschooler to entering public school and earning straight A's but becoming dependent on external validation and no longer pursuing education out of pure interest and enjoyment. This is among the many reasons I will homeschool my children in the future, in hope of fostering that pure love of learning.
@Nicky L exactly
@Nicky L When the children have hobbies like music, art, dance, sports in genarel e.g. they can built there friends out from this base maybe?
I am a homeschooling parent who was determined never to homeschool my kids due to social concerns, and wanting my kids to have the best work/life opportunities. However, after asking lots of questions about our education system and speaking to many homeschooling families, I came to understand that our systemization of education is extremely limiting in terms of its capacity to engage pupils and cultivate a sense of curiosity and excitement to learn. I love how Ruby discusses this problem, and while I don’t think homeschool will solve every problem, it can be a wonderful option. If homeschooling parents take initiative to expose their kids to a variety of social environments and provide opportunities for them to develop deep friendships, then the socialization aspect of homeschooling can become a strength, allowing kids to interact with not just their own age cohort but a diversity of individuals from different life stages, cultures, lifestyles etc. The key here is in how parents approach it.
@Nicky L She might choose not to work if she has a husband with a well paying job. My mom worked part time and homeschooled me and my sister throughout our childhoods.
I would like to emphasize: HOMESCHOOLING IS NOT FOR EVERYONE but it is wonderful for some children. For me, it was the correct decision. It was not for my sister. Despite being homeschooled my entire life, I will likely not homeschool my own children. So I am not being biased here.
I never had an issue with separating parenting and teaching (what do you mean by this precisely?) I also had time for numerous extracurricular activities (martial arts, three instruments, robotics, art classes, every style of dance, theater, and two sports...) thus having the privilege of making many friends and cultivating a myriad of passions and interests throughout childhood. I believe this is why I ended up with a strong and positive sense of self by the time I was a teenager.
I am a Christian. My best friend growing up was an atheist. I met her through robotics. I also had Islamic, Buddhist, and Jewish friends because a homeschool group I partook in visited various kinds of religious services to learn about different religions and cultures. So honestly, it is a stereotypical myth that all homeschoolers are religious fanatics who limit themselves only to those of which they align with ideologically. It's very much up to the individual parent. One should not confuse the instrument with the crime. Some crazy people unfortunately use homeschooling as a means of isolating their children, but that is not the fault of homeschooling itself.
Sorry didn't realize I would be writing a whole essay haha
@Nicky L “potentially damaging”? parents, especially mothers, have been teaching their children everything for ages before public school was a thing. education isn’t just rigorous formal math or science, it is also life lessons. not every parent is cut out to be a professional teacher, but they should at least know how to teach the basics.
Honestly, in my final year i had an assignment i truly expected an A for. When i got my paper back I had a C. All my friends had an A. I can’t explain how i felt, but failure is a close word. Now looking back I don’t know why it got to me so much, but maybe because there’s this expectation on what success should be. That along with the fact that i was a straight A student and i felt like people would be disappointed in me, i spent the entire weekend sobbing. Seems pointless now but I developed an unhealthy relationship with academics
I suspect your paper was excellent but also suspect that your paper was a little more creative or pushed beyond your teachers limits. So many teachers want their students to think as they do and even if a topic is handled brilliantly...if it's not in a direction they were expecting they often downgrade it. As a straight A student the quality of your work was already established over a long time line. But if we look at people who we regard as brilliant now, some were seen as quirky or eccentric or whatnot in their day (and of course a person can be both brilliant and eccentric...many are...but I mean that an excellent paper that is too far beyond of what the teacher is used to marking or even beyond that which the teacher thinks about could have been downgraded.)
🫂
Omg same, I also think I’ve developed an unhealthy relationship with grades, just don’t stress too much about it, as long as you get a passing grade it’s totally okay, enjoy life, trust me most straight A students have really boring and monotonous lives, enjoy your life, study enough and do the things you love.
Same tho... within my friend group I'm usually the one who gets the lowest grades for assignments and overall results. Rn Im in an art(creative side) based course school, which has grading like the other courses, so when I dont get the marks that reach as high as my friends, I would feel upset, disappointed... Like once starting life in a new school this year, I told myself to try and not focus too much on grades. However, it feels so hard to do that, especially in a very competitive environment, and especially if you want to go to university in the future. I get that we all want to do well, but sometimes I just help and feel like, why am I not doing well as them, why can't I do this or that well, etc. Especially when school has a moderation system, so sometimes they do pull some students' grades down from their original grades just to have 'a balance' of grades within the cohort. So yea... can be demoralising sometimes heh-
"this is very good [name], but it won't get the marks."
- my entire education
Is the same type of relationship you can have with food if you learn that being the standard is what matters, not being healthy, so you end up either not eating to fit in or eating too much because you’re anxious that you’re not fitting in, instead of learning how to love yourself and eat _properly_
One of the things I love about self-led learning is you can really let your curiosity lead you. If I find a niche subject I can explore it fully on my own terms without pressure of a timeline or grades
I’m so excited to graduate college so that I can have the time to actually learn things I’m interested in and not be so burnt out on learning in general… which is so sad to me
Agreed; this is too real of of sentiment!!
I know, it's so sad. I mean, just the fact that a person is looking forward to the time that they are finished with college in order to get ready to actually learn things better just speaks volumes about how poorly learning is handled in our education systems.
You can already learn things you are interested in. Ever heard of elective classes?
@@AlCatSplat Yourself ever heard of mandatory classes? or are you a finland citizen studying in uni?
@@yurishaa.9337 If you don't like the mandatory classes, why did you choose that degree?
I can't remember who said it, but there's a saying "let universities be playgrounds", which I love. Don't get so caught up in the standardised academic side of education, fall in love with the process of learning, not just academically, but for your own personal development.
Hi Ruby,
When I did my GCSE’s back in 2007 ( I think!), I came out with a very unexpected A grade in Religious Education. I didn’t like RE. I wasn’t passionate about RE but it was compulsory. I didn’t revise for this subject as it wasn’t important to me. I put my heart and soul into revising other subjects that I was passionate about but I honestly never picked up book, worksheet or file to revise RE. On the day of my exam, I remember sitting in the exam hall not having a clue with regards to what the exam questions even meant! I literally felt like a made up a total load of waffle just to fill a few pages. Results day came and this exam combined with coursework marks gave me a very top A grade. I was beyond baffled.
I was meant to be taking 3 A levels at my schools sixth form and when I went to register and sort out my classes, I had a brief meeting with my tutor who insisted that I did four A levels and not three. This was because, in her words, “you have great grades so you have should be doing four A levels not three. I want you to tick the box for RE because you are clearly talented at it.” And - I did! I didn’t want to. I didn’t like the subject, I didn’t need to subject but I did because I felt like I was told I had to. So, because I got “good grades,” I was pushed into doing a fourth A level that I didn’t want to do. I was told I was “talented,” at that particular subject even though I absolutely wasn’t! I literally winged it! I was totally talentless if I’m honest and it was a total fluke that I got the grade that I got. But all because of a little letter on a little piece of paper - I was forced into doing something I didn’t want to do, forced to do something I hated, something I didn’t see the point it, something I didn’t need and above all else - more work that I really didn’t have the time to do. I worked a part time job at the same time as doing my A level’s as my parents, at that time weren’t financially well off enough to fully support me. I needed to earn my own money for clothes and books etc. I wish I hadn’t let the school “bully” me into it, but I did.
All because of a grade!
Meanwhile, there could have been students who didn’t get the grades that I got, who wanting to take 4 A levels and who wanted to study RE, but were forced away from the idea…. Again all because of a silly little letter on a piece of paper.
I really agree with your views and points! Change is needed.
I have a primary school aged son now and it’s all a big competition as to what colour book band you are on! It’s crazy. The parents are actually worse than the children for trying to compare this.
then why the study community is so much focused on 'getting top grades' and 'being top of class' and 'high grades guarantee a brighter career'? I never let grades define my intelligence. I'm a human being, I measured my ability in a subject by the love I felt for it.
Because the study community are still students? And like all students, despite the dissent some may have towards the grading system, they still wanna do the best to their ability. And the study community has never been about ‘getting top grades’ ‘being top of the class’ or ‘grades guarantee a brighter career’ - it’s about motivating you to study, motivating you to learn, etc.
@@cheechee6473 that's not really what I see around
@@AsenathWaiteDerby Clearly we both have different perspectives. I’ve always viewed the study community as motivating you to study/learn, not so much about ‘getting the top grades’ or ‘getting top grades is your number one priority to success’ at least. Nonetheless, these are students wanting to do their very best in a grading system they have absolute no control over. You can’t blame them for the top grades they get lol. But that doesn’t mean they’re not entitled to express their dissent on the ridiculousness of the grading system. I get mostly (with the exception of one B every now and then) As in school, but I’ve always found the grading system where I live incredibly weird - things NEED to change. Like really, really, really soon. Where I live grades are based on a criteria and a list of things you to need to achieve, and if you miss out on ONE of those things then your mark goes down detrimentally. Like I’m a sucker for learning but the grading system is a little…um…🤡
Because this is what they have been taught and because they are still students.
@@candicraveingcloude2822 yeah but why being "top" at all costs? this is toxic competition within a bunch of different brains. there's no reason to it.
Honestly, I can’t explain how much I relate to this. I developed an extreme heart condition from stressing so much about university and A levels, because I could never get a first.
This is why I loved it when my university went pass/fail during 2020. I didn’t stress out about my grades, and instead i could focus on just actually learning the material
Not that I disagree exactly, but I will say it’s a lot easier to say grades mean nothing when you’ve received good grades consistently. At the same time, grade inflation is real - there are universities where over 50 % of all graduates receive a first, and that’s just a bit ludicrous. They might as well go back to a pass/fail system if most people are getting the highest grade anyway.
i definitely agree with this as well. I've always found it super ironic that my inteuctors in uni would basically say it's fine to get poor grades, basically as an excuse not to address student concerns. it always gave me such a stressed feeling knowing that some people are fully reliant on their grades to maintain scholarships for example, that their futures were stuck in the hands of burnt out professors. the value of grades are sometimes way to high compared to what they are worth/what was done or not done to obtain them.
@@pieinside2345 I got a free ride through university and grad school thanks to merit-based scholarships, so grades were pretty much THE only thing that mattered. For things like that, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where there wasn’t a way to attach a numerical value to how well someone has done in a course. It’s different for people like Ruby who come from wealth and actually have the option not to worry about grades.
@@limeparticle whether its basing your self worth on grades or having the future of education solely reliant on grades, they can really have negative effects on a wide range of people and i wouldn't mind there being an effort to trying to change these systems in some way.
I mean lots of famous people weren’t the smartest and now they’re rich and iconic
@@limeparticle isn’t that even more of a reason to get rid of the current grading system?? the wealthier kids don’t have to worry about grades in general because they can afford tutoring and various extracurriculars. it’s crazy how in this system, low income kids are expected to battle for valedictorian in order to afford school. with the way school is based entirely on passing tests exams, low income students are at a disadvantage.
(From the US) By the time I was 12, I hated reading in school because of "required reading" and not being "allowed" to count some books toward said required reading. I hated writing because of the nickel-and-dime grading of papers. I hated school in general because of the focus on how much you could do and how well and how learning beyond the prescribed curriculum was discouraged (I actually got detention for it more than once, in elementary/primary school!). Now that I've been out of school for more than 20 years, reading, writing, and school are my FAVORITE things! I read 200+ books a year, plus picture books I read to my kids (and love). I'm a published writer. I attend online and university courses FOR FUN. It's so sad what my education did to my love of learning.
I don't make comments very often and have to be careful making any comments but I do I feel you on the writing part. I was always told I have to write it like this and like that. I needed a "strong intro" to catch the attention of the reader. I needed topic sentences and "smooth" transition sentences and in my conclusion I needed to make a relation to my thesis. If you didn't do even one of those things your writing skills were considered terrible. Writing in real life is literally nothing like that. I remember reading actual written works and sometimes I would analyze them and realize the way they teach you to write in school is so formulaic and robotic and isn't how people in real life actually write because all that matters is if you are understood or not. The way of writing they stressed at school also made it not only harder without reason, but also less creative and more boring. School made me hate writing but I since I don't write for school anymore I'm starting to like it more than ever (only thing is I don't people finding my stuff just yet lol)
I get so much validation from grades and they are definitely very important to my self worth and value. I think my relationship with grades is quite unhealthy, so having some separation would be good. I have noticed in so many of my classes that I’m not actually learning, but rather just memorizing and recalling facts (that I probably don’t understand). It was so interesting to hear your take on this, and completely agree with you. Our education system needs to emphasize and value the experience and actually learning the material, rather than just memorization. The only other thing I would point out is the importantance of grades when it comes to being accepted into universities and scholarships, which puts even more pressure on students.
I wholeheartedly agree with this video! I'm a Psychology Major, currently a freshman in Uni, and I'm taking introduction to psychology right now and the professor doesn't focus on the marks she gives out. She provides feedback first, THEN makes the marks available for us and I honestly love and prefer that method of teaching, especially because that class in particular is very important to my major. She tells us to not freak out for exams, because at the end of the day, this is information that we need to know for our jobs in the future and she needs to ensure that we know it. So she does review at the beginning of each class period, and I so so so appreciate her!! I agree with you, Ruby, and this is something I plan to keep in mind for my future in education :)
I realised how insane grades were when I was predicted Cs and Ds for my A-Levels and instead got three A*s. Ironically, the low prediction made me take the exams in a relaxed manner because, in my head, I wasn't in it to win it. And bam! I suddenly excelled. The pressure was gone and simply doing my work and showing up to do my best without going crazy was magic. I took a gap year and got an unconditional offer from Durham - take that, teachers who didn't believe in me. Long story short, grades are subjective, make people fail under unnecessary pressure, and above everything else, do NOT reflect how the real world works. This subject matter is so interesting; I will look into the books you featured in this video. It would be awesome if you kept making videos about this because there is so much to reflect on. The more people realise how ineffective the system is, the more likely we will see some change.
This is so true. I am currently learning Spanish because it a requirement for my course at university. It is always how many points did you get and not even if you understood the language in itself. I love learning and studying but the second it is about the grade it’s not fun anymore.
I took a six year gap between my undergrad degree and my masters. My whole approach to my masters was vastly different from my undergrad. My appreciation for the freedom to study full time grew so much in those six years. The one thing I've learnt though is that you reach a point in life (I'm in my 30s) and no employer really cares what grades you got, just as long as you have the skills and knowledge needed for the job
Ruby, I hardly ever comment on anything, but as a future teacher I cannot appreciate this video enough! Thanks for the tips on what students can do to spark their ineterest. It surely is for the sake of education that us teachers enter the schools we teach at.
The system is changing. I hope we all will be able to see a change like this as well as its outcomes soon.
All the very best! 🍁
I think this video should go viral. I can relate so much to this, especially on my high school path. As a teenager I was adventurous, curious, so enthusiastic about things that I've had passion about. History, art, mind, philosophy, language, physics, like everything works together, I've wanted to discuss certain topics not metodologically, but cross-sectionally, compare things, relate things, test things, create. I can say in a non-narcissictic way that I was teengenious, like most of us are. My mind was just buzzying from ideas. But I couldn't fit in score sections, couldn't force myself to remember huge parts of theory. And one day I just broke, I stopped going to school. It was my last year and I just couldn't be there. I was running away everyday for two months and eventually dropped out of school and in my country it is not something common. I passed the exams three years later after self-learning and going back to normal mental state. I appreciate your words, Ruby, hopefully they can save someone suffering
This is so true, especially when it comes to bigger universities. I recently switched to a much bigger university than I was at last semester and they really don’t care about whether or not you learn. They only care about how high of a grade you get so that the school in itself seems prestigious. I’ve always been very curious and learning is my passion so that’s why I’m in university and I think it’s incredibly important to attend a university that fosters a sense of curiosity and excitement around learning. I’m grateful to say that I’ll be transferring back to the smaller university next semester! ❤️
They don't care education unless you got $$$, especially here in the USA.
I get what you're saying but most people don't go to uni to learn, they go because they need a degree so they can get a job and earn a decent wage which often is hard to do without a degree . On a job application a first looks better than a 2:1. I think going to uni just to learn is something only super privileged people can do, it's great to learn at uni but for the majority of people learning isn't the driving factor, making money post graduation is and unfortunately you need a good grade for that so it makes sense that the majority of people won't care about what they're learning and truly immersing yourself in academia because their main goal is having a steady job. I think learning for learning sake is a bit of fairy tale atm for most people
wasn't she talking more about primary and secondary school tho, not uni, and more about the fact that grades in and of themselves are kinda contraproductive? and if there was just pass or fail, the employers couldn't hire people based on grades.
@@fruktsodaadorable see what you’re saying out the point still stands that most people can’t afford to do school purely for the fun of learning because the finically have their life after education to think about. It would be great if we all could learn solely just for the sake of learning but that’s not most peoples reality
Honestly, instead of having the "mark" of the degree count, companies could invest in their hiring process more to actually get the people that are good at the specific tasks they are wanted for. The mark you get on your degree does not say all that much - particularly if some modules are graded much harsher than others. And only comparing someone to the person that did the same course with the same modules in the same years (and the same teacher) makes the cohort ridiculously small. Just assigning pass/fail grades would still enable people to get degrees, but it would eliminate the notion of comparability based on masks.
I promise u that no one cares what grade you got a uni unless it’s for something very specific like law. Employers value you experience and what u can offer, at the end of the day whether u get a first or a 2:2 you still earned a degree
Sadly true too
It must be a relief for one to say this when they're done with school (at least I assume you are). Others who are still at school are waiting to be done with it so they can talk about the things you talked about in this video.
Ahh this is so true… there is so much to unpick here
@@RubyGranger8 *unpack you failed! I give a F- for your failure to spell this word correctly. You've made your parents very sad.
Hilariously true. Four years of high school instilled such a hatred for any type of education in me that I will never recover from it. I am a writer and reader and very creative myself, so that bit is all good, but i feel literally sick at the thought of studying. I am quite jealous of people who enjoy their studies/uni and enjoy the process, but I cannot and will never. I am happy I never actually went into literature (for several reasons) but also because I knew I would hate it regardless of my interest simply because it was mandatory. In great contrast to my elementary school experience, I loved 99% of all my teachers and classes there.
Being shy of 16 years old in year 11, i have noticed the major faults in our education system even more so than i already did. Sayings like ´tick boxing´i have become far too familiar with as well. We have been going over exams, pin pointing exactly what to revise and, while this is helpful, i am incredibly angry because of it. It took them 4 years to get to the relevant information. I have wasted 4 years doing nothing. I memorise all i need at home and have wasted my life in a classroom. My passions lay outside of a classroom. I have a severely questioning mind at the moment and all I want to do is jump out of the box our schools are keeping us in. I want to LEARN, to SEE what the real world has to offer. My world has been shrouded by numbers and restrictive mindsets, overflowing with people who do not have any passion for their own life. I have tried to get my loud opinion on this subject out to my peers who all hear me but choose not to listen. I am so happy to see you bring it up. The insufficient time we have for our exams when you add up how long it takes a HUMAN BEING to write a single sentence in comparison to how long it takes to type a single sentence is just one of the faults i have noticed. We are not machines. We are not only marked on our ability to retain nonsense, but we are also marked on how fast it takes us to legibly write that nonsense down without our hands falling off. I am frankly fed up of older generations deciding on things that they claim will help our generation without even considering the voices of our generation before they make that change. Are we not ever heard until our age- a number (once again) allows us to be?
Not only are students chained to this system, so are the teachers. They almost secretly encourage us to fly while they simultaneously keep us shackled because they have to. It is not just students who need to speak up, it is the teachers too. They know what they teach is restrictive and mostly pointless and clearly hurt to see their students struggle. If they are going to be allies to this system, then they may as well join us to improve it because if i were them i would shame to stand with something so outdated and destructive.
Perhaps this comment was a whole lot of loose ends. This is probably not the best thing to watch before my mocks and i am sorry if it seems quite long and intimidating.
If you actually read this i thank you and encourage you to make your voice heard too. ❤
I agree so much, I have been discouraged because of my grades but when my grades did not matter and I found a passion in writing because of my amazing teacher who was very kind and I did even better than I had ever done with writing before with the pressures of grades.
At the filmschool/uni I go to we actually don't get grades: we get a pass or a fail. This is mostly because our assignments are so based around creativity and everyone's result is so different that it would be really hard to grade them in an objective way. But it has definitely changed my thinking so much not getting grades anymore! It is definitely a good system in my opinion, if you understand the material you just get a pass!
Associating the process of learning with mental and emotional distress has to be one of the most unfortunate realities of our education system. It's been a struggle to try and break free from this, at least for me, but I think it is possible. Learning should be liberating and empowering!
Millennial in his late 20s. I've been saying this SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!!! Thank you so much for bringing this truth to TH-cam! The rigid education system doesn't inspire learning and it should!
Nah, I learned that education serves one purpose: a passport to a job. Plain and simple, end of the story. Education is not knowing, but learning is technical education. Education is the indoctrination of the highest calibre, look at all the Liberal garbage American universities produce and the alternative media PragerU spewing its conservative etheric and high religiosity to the masses. This is why the USA is so polarised.
You could not have posted this at a more perfect time. Struggling a little in university and focussing so much on grades that I’m not even enjoying the topics. Have actually forgotten what I’m actually even genuinely interested in!
Hi Leah. How're you doing?
what is even more difficult for me is my school doesn’t give feedback! only grades! it’s terrible because i don’t get to correct my mistakes!
“To think outside the box, you have to first understand the box.”
I wish more people would talk and discuss about this. As a senior in high school, me and my class mates have been feeling the pressure to get the best mark possible in the finals. I hope people would normalise learning for seeking knowledge instead of grades. Thank you for making this video, this is such an important topic to discuss in today's time
As someone who still goes to school I can say this is very true, I have been having mental breakdowns because of stress I been experiencing this year. It’s to the point that I start crying every time I procrastinate, which is very frustrating, but it’s like a addiction, I can’t stop running away from my responsibilities. I feel like I’m being pressured to do something that I feel like will never help me. Heck my dad forgot probability and he’s the smartest person I know. The only time school comes in handy is when helping people younger than you with their homework. I want to write a book later in life, but not because of school, I want to make a difference so future generations be in a world without problems that we created. Our general problems right now are like some pieces of blocks, if we add excess blocks, the building will fall apart, Just like our world is.
I love your channel because of your wisdom and kindness. You have an understanding that is becoming rare.
What really helps me is reminding me why I started my education and to focus on my dream and goals I want to reach with it. It gives me an instant boost of motivation. 🧡
I had a similar experience to you Ruby through school. But when I got to A Levels I became so fixed ony grades that it ruined my enjoyment and I spiraled into depression.
I chose to do an apprenticeship in Engineering instead of heading straight to uni. I now am encouraged to be curious, to learn for the sake of learning. I also work with company geniuses who vary from having PhDs to passes at GCSEs as their highest academic qualifications. This drastically changed my view and truly grading let's down so many clever people and even people like me who was good at getting high grades, grading can ruin learning.
This inspired me so much i never had good grades and believed i was stupid my whole life i needed this so much❤❤
I love that this came up on my feed as I defiantly feel like people don't talk about this enough. It concerns me that my generation seem to lack skills in self-improvement, forming opinions and debating them. I often struggle between deciding to go along with it and focus my education on getting the high grades (memorising mark schemes on flashcards etc.) or whether to focus on bettering myself and aiding curiosity as you say.
This is so interesting to watch as someone who is studying to become an English teacher. We are going over many of these same concepts and there are lots of controversies on what is the purpose of education, how to teach, what should be taught, etc. I find it all very fascinating.
I LOVE Ruby's essay and critical discussion-type videos! Very well organised and put.😍
Former educator here. I’ve struggled with this, too, but could not think of a way to could give a child a grade (which I was required to do), but focus on the learning. I did come up with a check plus, check, check minus, check minus minus system, and my students liked it. But if I were to teach today, I would definitely use your video as a framework for proof of learning that occurred. I would also let students watch your video for understanding where I was coming from. Maybe even dissect it, so not to make students accept the thought process. You are helping any educator today who struggles with the same questions.
I’ve been watching your videos for years. I adore you! This video came at such a perfect time for me. I’m a 6th grade teacher in the US and struggle with this daily. Thanks for the insight and the time you put into this. I’m going to shift the way I think about grades in my classroom.
I needed this. I just put in my applications for University and it can't stop analysing every grade and number. I loved school for and my teachers and the work. But in the last two years I can't help but just make my grades into their own math class. Your channel has brought me so much comfort and enjoyment over the years. In the last few months they have made me both so excited for University and also excited for what comes after.
Good luck with your application! I've just put mine in as well
Thank you so much for this video! I have been feeling really awful lately because I've always gotten amazing grades but I suddenly got worse grades because I had to change my school after moving and some of my new teachers are just so different than what I was used to, so I got a few not so perfect scores from exams... I'm trying to be positive but I'm not sure how long I can be happy with my current situation. Watching this video made me realize that I should focus more on the process of learning than a number on my test paper. :)
As always this was such a lovely and calming video from you. I don't know if you'll see this comment but I just want you to know that whenever I have anxiety I watch your videos and they always help me feel better. I might not comment often but I watch every single one of your videos and love them! You mentioning writing keeps me inspired as I'm an aspiring author myself. I'm so excited for your book to come out 'cause I can't wait to read it! All love from here❤
I love this video Ruby. The grades just make learning so much more stressful- especially for children in years that don’t need to even think about going to university or getting a job
Thank you. This really made me think and understand better why I always struggled with school so much… I mean, I totally get what you say. I didn’t always liked learning, but since the last years I do again and I’ve loved the process until an exam was coming up.. I was so focused on passing, the grade and was stressing about how much time I got left. I based my self worth and fun into learning in that, wich made me unmotivated, super perfectionistic and absolutely hate the education system 😕 It also made me do less than I could do, I thought my grades showed me how smart I was. It’s not that I didn’t want to learn, the school system was just failing me. I couldn’t get along with teachers, I didn’t like lots of things they were teaching us and for some reason I thought I had to be good at everything. It made me unhappy, stubborn and it just wasn’t working for me. And then I’m not even talking yet about having a hard time fitting in with other students and making friends at such a young age. Or making choices about your future! It all can be so draining and burn you out. I don’t want to sound all depressing lol (just telling my experience) and it may work for some people, but I definitely do think it needs some changing for the better for everybody and especially certain quiet people of us with loud minds, who don’t always get the attention they need ❤
P.S. I think you might be a great (English)teacher
This was such a good video, Ruby 🌞 ! Every now and then I really need reminders like this to distance myself from grades.
I love learning, but when I see that people that cheat get higher marks than people that study and actually learn the material, all the hard work i've done feels like a waste of time: i could have just cheated my way to the best grade possible. It's just very sad. Education could be beautiful and fulfilling, but it's hard not to focus on grades when they sometimes feel like the only purpose of this school system. But i'll work on this! Thank u for the tips, Ruby ✨✨
These are things I've realised about the education system throughout my life, but never quite been able to describe. This video is so eloquently summarised and presented - thank you Ruby!
This is a brilliant video and an amazing way to use your platform! I completely agree - grading is so detrimental and stifles creativity and learning in a variety of ways. I used to love reading up and researching topics that interested me when I was younger - even going so far as to write up my own wee reports to show them to my mum. Then that attitude towards learning simply fell away come grading level when I developed so much anxiety around exam and grading season to the point that I would freeze in panic and forget the things I'd sat for days on end forcing myself to memorise - even developing an intense fear of the exam hall. Years later after finishing school and uni, I still sometimes kick myself for (pass mark) grades I feel I could have got better on and that should never be a thing someone finds themselves hyper-fixating on at any point in their academic journey - especially post education. Loved this video!
As a person with dyslexia learning was always weird for me. I always loved and still love learning and wanted to study too. But I realized that I was not able when I saw that it didn't matter that I knew the lesson but it mattered if I knew it by heart. They wanted the answers in tests to be exactly written like they were in the book. Word by word. Even the . had to be at the exact same point as the book. Anyone who has hard time learning, memorizing understand how that is practically impossible. I know people who did manage to do that but at the same time they don't even remember it. The education system in many many countries is deeply flawed and only works for a specific group of people (in my opinion) while at the same time makes everyone else feel like they are not enough.
Me too I have dyslexia and I’m in my senior year at university and I’m struggling with memorizing everything word by word.
Wait, in your country they still do it in college? That’s really sad. Where I am from the only standardised stuff are tests that the state runs to check or develop the curriculum but have no influence on your grades, they aren’t even showing you your results. Everything else is mostly open questions or essay style and as long as your argument is sound and relevant to the question asked you are fine. Grading is done by the teacher who knows you and most importantly know the content of his lessons, so it’s never about what an “examiner” wants to hear to tick his boxes. In uni it’s either seminar papers or multiple-choice but even then you don’t have to memorise your text book. I think they would think that you are cheating when they find the exact wording from a text book.
@@lisal5718 We don't have college in my country. School is until 18 and after that is uni. So until your 18 you give word by word exams. Uni is a whole new mess that again doesn't leave much space for creative thinking in regards of what you are learning.
@@MissieK College is just another word for Uni. At least in American English.
@@lisal5718 as far as I know in many countries you go school, college and than to uni. Here high school is until you are 18 and than you have exams to go to Uni, that is what I meant.
I love this. Classic Ruby. "I want to talk to you about something very important, but first I'm going to go get some tea." This was such an awesome video, reminded me of where my worth comes from and refreshed my outlook on education. Thank you so much! Jesus loves you!
This is so important!! Thank you so much for talking about it. ♥️
I find that the teachers also play a big part in how well you actually learn. I'm taking 4 Psych classes this semester and 2/4 are extremely engaging; I even got a 90 without studying (because I was doing 2 shifts at work and I really didn't have time). The other 2 simply copy paste from textbook and don't really engage with the lectures themselves.
Grades are a measure of accomplishment as dictated by an education board. It’s training for the rest of life. Employer’s give “grades” via annual reviews that determine pay raises. Professional sports give grades for draft picks and athletic contracts. We put numbers on everything. Reviews of restaurants, hotels, book reviews, cable and television ratings. Car reviews. The world is completely categorized by grades. That is why there is a grading system for education.
Very very good point - but do you think numerical values are useful? It just seems so banal to reduce everything to a number… even if it is much more practical
It's why I've learned more when I didn't have classes anymore.
I never enjoyed being in school for 7 hours, yet I could watch 1 hour to 3 hour videos or go through studies I find online about information almost back to back and learn a lot and enjoy it.
i find myself coming to your channel everytime i get stressed/overwhelmed with uni, your videos are really helping not just me but a lot of people out there :)
This is really well discussed Ruby! I appreciate your inclusion of research studies throughout. 🙂 ☺️ I really would prefer a pass fail grading system. One university that I looked at had a good system where the students received no grades (also very few due dates) throughout the semester. At the end they were allowed to select their ten items from the term to present and discuss at a portfolio review. I think this system gives students the benefit of the doubt in cases where they don't perform as well, and allows them to begin to identify areas of where there are strengths and areas where there are weaknesses.
I’m still in the beginning of the video but today I had a test and I think I make a mistake in one question and immediately started to feel upset with myself because I wouldn’t have 100% on it. I just know this video is going to be great ❤ thank you Ruby
Update: I made 3 mistakes 🙃! Any tips on how to not beat myself up will be appreciated
@@angelasc25 I just remind myself that we live on a floating rock so these little test grades don’t matter 😅
This is the exact thing i was thinking about today. At uni I study something I truely enjoy but i still make the mistake of focusing on having the best mark and pushing myself instead of taking my time to love everything. Thanks Ruby
Bro, curiosity is what I literally needed my whole life. When I was always curious about something, wanted to learn more, and asked questions, it changed how well I did in school
Thank you for this beautiful video! It really felt like a wonderful discussion, the topic really fitted to my teaching courses and really things I was thinking about recently. Your advice and reminders were so helpful!!
This made me feel a lot better. The fact that I had and rs test today, I felt really rubbish and ruby made my day
For me, a big problem was how dependent on teachers grades are. We would have a teacher who'd purposefully not give us any good grades to "motivate" us to do better-for me it did the opposite, I just stopped putting any effort into it because I knew that it would get a shitty grade anyway, but at the same time it also made me feel stupid because if I then got bad grades it was also kind of my fault for not putting any effort into it. We'd have another teacher give good grades based on how much they liked a student, or we'd have ones that focus on supporting one student they deemed worthy and the rest of the class was ignored and not actually teached properly, leading to worse grades for them. It made me numb to these grades, but also feel so stupid at the same time, because I had lost any curiosity I had already.
An interesting take Ruby thank you! I would say that thinking and learning are essentially linking new ideas and facts to those you already know. The reason rote learning and memorisation are important is because they give you the ability to think and be creative later in life by providing that foundational knowledge
I just loved this video, I am a teacher and this is something I feel so passionately about! Thank you for such a well thought out video on this important topic!
This is so true! I'm currently on erasmus and out of fear of not passing my subjects (and thus having to redo my subjects at my home university) I'm taking on courses that are far too easy, just so I'm certain I will pass! I know I have the option to take more interesting courses to actually learn something new, but for me it's not worth the risk of having to extend my studies by a semester
Very intelligent way of thinking about it. You can clearly hear by the way she uses her vocabulary and the way she has written this script, that she knows what she's talking about. I can almost say with absolute certainty that she did not just happen to stumble across this topic and decided to say something about it, but rather started to figuring it out herself as she progressed through her school years.
Absolutely 100% agree with everything you say in this video. I worked so hard at school and university to get really good grades, yet I don't feel like I learned much. And it very negatively impacted my mental health. My current job is not high paying but I love it. However, I certainly didn't need a First Class degree to get it!
I hope one day the world listens to you so that we can enjoy the process of learning and become much happier individuals.
Love this, couldn't agree more. I've just completed VCE in Victoria, Australia, where all assessments are ranked against the whole state. All we want to do is forget everything we've learned! x_x
I completely agree with this! I went back into education after a 2 year break and I’ve been getting not as good marks as I used too. It’s made me lose the want to carry on with education
I truly needed this. Thank you Ruby, you are such an inspiration for me. Much love. 🧡
I was just beginning to question the meaning of grades and, after days of painful yet fruitless contemplation, I was lucky enough to find this lovely, well-researched video. It truly means a lot to me. Thank you so much! (Really love those "editing Ruby jumping in" moments btw
I love seeing you make this video as I have seen you grow up in this channel and be stressed sometimes about grades (hope its all right to say that) - I think this video, above all, points out just how much you've grown 🤩👏🏽 love it, i can tell how much you love studying and its wonderful to see you question and analyze what the system is getting wrong - by doing that we can also fix it! x
I've just recently started university and honestly I feel like it's changed the way I think about grades. On one hand, I've definitely had to adjust to the fact that getting 100s is not really a reasonable or possible goal, so I've had to learn to be much less hard on myself. But on the other hand, it's so difficult not to focus on grades when you're taking exams worth 40% of your total mark
The perfect video to watch the day you discover you failed an exam 🙃
Thank you Ruby, I tend to fall into this trap… falling into the despair of grades rather than enjoying the journey, and exploring the wisdom of our forefathers in my own life
I absolutely love this video! My perspective of school and education has been completely refined and I somehow feel more encouraged to actually *understand* my work instead of simply memorizing for a test/exam
As a mom, I like the graded papers that my kids bring home. We look at all the things that were marked wrong and try to figure out why they were marked wrong. Grades give feedback, so my kids can improve. The percentage on each paper is related to the number of questions on the page, so maybe individual assignments are not an accurate measurement of intelligence; but the grade given at year's end would be due to overall performance, so it may be a better assesment of their progress.
Personally I think it would be better not have a straight up numerical grade but to mark it right or wrong, perhaps with some feedback. It's good to look at why you got certain things wrong, but I've found that grades can be detrimental to me because somehow they remove my motivation to do so. If I see I've got 80% in a test, I don't bother to check what I got wrong, even though it might be something really crucial. Equally, if I do really badly I feel too demotivated.
I always found with myself that when I was doing past papers, I always made a bigger effort to correct my work and understand things more when I didn't tally up the marks and get my overall percentage.
Expect you don’t always get feedback, sometime you just get a grade and that’s it.
While you can still try to figure out why they got them wrong and what they didn't understand etc, you could also ask them what *did* they learn.
Sometimes a child learns things that weren't on the paper. Whoever put the paper\worksheet\test together has their view of what the child should learn, but that is not necessarily a true assessment of what the child really knows about the subject\topic.
I have failed quite a few classes in my time, I remember one of my teachers berating me during GCSEs for getting a B in a mock exam 😂 luckily I laughed it off. I have a Masters now but I wouldn't have got to this point had I not shifted my mindset to one through which I placed more value on choosing the classes that interested me the most and caring less about grades or what looked good on applications. This way I've actually put myself in a better position for the future because being able to demonstrate diverse interests and passions as well as practical experience is becoming increasingly more important than grades.
MYYY GOOOODD! i have been studying about the importance of curiosity inside the educational system, and i was looking for resources, this video is a BIG resource, thank you!!!!!
You make wonderful points, Ruby. Thank you for sharing.
When I was a kid I was so incredibly infuriated by school and grading and whatnot. And now I'm a teacher (kinda by accident, wasn't my dream), and... I still am. But at the same time, I can't really do anything about it. I have to give grades, because I have the system above me that requires me to do so. I have certain amount of material/topics to go through, and well, I better freaking go through it. Every new class I teach I always say: if I didn't have to make tests and give grades, I wouldn't. It's just counter productive and anxiety inducing for everybody involved. But it's not my choice to make.
One-size-fits-all solutions really don't fit anyone. It's not that we hate learning; we just hate studying. But unfortunately, we don't want kids to learn. Just to study. Or, well, to KNOW. Not necessarily understand. Just know.
I'm a teacher and relate to this so much. I teach ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) in a FE college and the assessments are definitely my least favourite thing. We have to do them because funding relies on them. But I always know that some of my students who pass are not ready to move on to the next level of ESOL. They have done the things the test asks of them but they still don't have a good grasp of the language at that level. The good thing is that we don't need to move students up just because they have passed the tests. It does sometimes cause a bit of a fight though because in the student's eyes, they have passed therefore they know what they need to know and don't understand me saying that they are not ready for the next level.
In regards to my own learning I am reluctant to engage with formal education again. There's a qualification that I could undertake a course to achieve that would earn me more money having, but I don't want the stress of working towards assessment and grades. I want to be able to focus on the learning. It's annoying that in our culture education = stress. The other annoying thing is that I know the target of an exam and deadlines are motivating and I sometimes don't manage to self-motivate when I don't have that extrinsic pressure.
I really needed this right now, thank you Ruby.
I love this video, it give me a different perspective on grades and the educational system. Thank you!❤
As a year 11 student doing their GCSEs right now who hasn't cleaned their room or read a book in weeks, this hits really hard lol, thank you for the video Ruby!
Omgg, same I'm so stressed for the mocks and for the actual exams I feel like I'm not good enough to do well other students are always compared to the smart ones and it aggitates me alot. I've lost so much motivation but I still push myself to do revision to recieve good grades.
@@_.belladonna_ same tbh but we got this!! just gotta push thru it and it'll hopefully all be okay after :)
@@lordor317 you too, but I'm nervous since I really want to go to a grammar school.
ruby's debut in her video essay era
Brilliant Ruby ❤ Thank you for casting a light upon this issue
Thank you for voicing this topic, Ruby!
This is a complete 180 from what you're channel is all about.
I do not feel like that. Ruby has always talked about intrinsic motivation and the joy of learning and becoming knowledgeable. She is one of the few people on the web who have managed to renew that joy in me. In many ways, it is exactly what her channel is about. Focus on who you are becoming by doing intellectual work, do it well, do it purposefully, do it productively, go the extra mile on researching a subject for the sake of it.
Personally, I feel that Ruby's channel was never about going crazy after grades. She did care about her grades, but at the same time she always talked about researching and learning beyond class. So I don't think it's a 180 degree or something.
@@ellav7015 Totally agree with you, dear Ella.
Professional teacher here: The focus of students (predominantly female I‘m afraid to say, the drive for perfectionism seems to be a mainly female trait) on grades is something I notice as well, it is something most students are conditioned to seek out and comparison with your peers is quite natural. But a lot of students are so much more critical of themselves than we teachers are. You may receive a B or C but we still think that you are an intelligent and capable student that understands the subject well because you ask poignant questions. And we also acknowledge that maybe you don‘t think that our subject is the most important one in the whole wide world.😅 So to all of you reading this: your teachers appreciate and value you, regardless of your grades. And as an older woman let me tell you something else. Your grades don‘t necessarily lead to a happy life but lasting relationships will. So focus in that because they will definitely pay off in the long term.
It may be true in high school, but university I'm afraid it's not the case. The olny teacher who remembered my name was the one who tutored my thesis. The others didn't even knew who we are let alone caring about us. I don't blame them as they have no fault that there's hundreds of students and it's easier for them to just tell a lesson (and we learn it by heart and then take the exam), than fostering curiosity and critical thinking. It's the system that's built wrong
@@luisa146 I agree that university classes are very different. Maybe it is related to the limited time the lecturers spend with the students? If you only see them one term and never again in your life, the time and motivation to get to know them might be a lot lower. And class sizes are probably also a lot bigger as you mentioned. Although I had excellent lecturers at university but most of them were highschool teachers as well so I think that proves your point! 😅
Thank you for making this video. This was so rarely talked about in my life despite the toll it took on me. I realized that grades had gradually discouraged me(being a straight A student was apparently never enough) from pretty much everything and had some sort of identity crisis because it is of course, largely based on grades.That was 2 years ago during high school in a hyper - competitive culture where gap year is not an option. Two years later, I'm still recovering(to little avail) from depression. Hopefully your video will make people like me feel better.
This is so important!! I’ve been and still am a sufferer of the gifted kid burnout, and this emphasis on grades puts such a pressure on us to the point why we forget that we were learning in the first place
I was never obsessed with grades, but I always found it as a good motivator. I would've learned far less without them
Same, honestly nowadays we only learn to get jobs and without learning you cannot pass the "job" exam, exams and grades test your level, they aren't essentially a bad thing but neither a good thing