Poor Grades: Students Must Also Take The Blame

Card day is fast approaching. Grades will be released. Some are nervous, some are excited. Finally, you will know how you performed during the past grading period. 

I remember how excited I was on Card days during my high school days. Since I really was focused on my studies that time, I was a hundred percent sure I passed all my subjects. But now, being a teacher, handing out grades really is a stressful moment.

Now, you're wondering where I'm headed to with this blog post. Just last week, I decided to hand out to my students their grades in my subject in advance, since I was already done computing them. I want them to know beforehand their performance and think in advance how to perform better. Alas, what I thought to be a day I will enjoy ended with a heavy mood.

As students, I know they are entitled to ask why they got low, even failing grades. What I don't get is why they have the nerve to question how I computed their grades when they know for a fact that I have all the basis to come up with such computation. It's like asking how come there's flood when you know the drainage is clogged up with garbage or why you are breathing when you know that's essential for you to stay alive. 

Also, I really hate the fact that nowadays, teachers get almost all the blame when students get poor marks in school. Like, WHAT?! Can't the students blame themselves for their poor performance? How can we make them pass when for a fact they have low quizzes scores, low activity marks, and low periodic test results? Okay, they have points for class participation and passed a project, but is it really enough to have a good grade? Answer: HELL, NO!!

What I'm really trying to say is, if you knew you perform really bad, you are to expect a poor grade. Why blame the teacher if what you did during the grading period is to log in to your Facebook account every night, play your different online games after school, and focus almost all of your free time with your girlfriend/boyfriend? What if you paid attention to your teacher, scan your notes and study hard even a day before a test? I'm not saying that devote your free time to studying only (that's a bore, even for me). It's that you need to have a balance on everything and you need to exert effort in school if you want to pass. A teacher can't give you a passing mark if you didn't do something. If you knew you were just chilling around, waiting for your classes to end, and occasionally sleeping during class hours, then expect a low/failing grade (unless you were some kind of a genius who can still pull school stuff off without too much studying). Students should not make their teachers their scapegoats to their poor performance. In Cebuano, "Ayaw paghinilas-hilas ug ingon nga gihagbong kag way klarong hinungdan kay ang maestro/a dili bogo ug buang nga muhimog grado gikan sa wala." 

I know how grueling being a student is, and as teenagers, you want to have a good time also and experience teenage life to the fullest. But learn how to have fun without sacrificing your studies. And do remember that a teacher only computes the grade and that you are the ones giving the scores to be computed.

(I'm sorry to the people who will accidentally read this. I just feel the need to release the stress and grief I'm experiencing the past days due to my students questioning the grades they got.)