Thursday, 26 March 2015

The girl who was interrupted with her salutatorian speech

It's March and graduation is just around the corner. Recently there was a flood of issue where a salutatorian was interrupted in her Salutatorian speech

http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/87716-girl-interrupted-school-officials-cut-salutatorian-speech

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A lot have been bashing her for being a spoil sport but, I'm one of those who agree with her and was touched when this child spoke her thoughts and feelings regarding the transparancies in school.

When I was in college, we all know about the "ceiling" grade, and it was 92%. So even if you perfect your exams you can never get a 1.00... We were segregated into grades and one of our subjects automatically gave us the same grade, 85, 84 or 83. It didn't matter if you're bright or if you did your work better than anyone, you will only get the same 83.

I'm sure, even if we were already segregated by our averages, it's impossible for all of us to get one grade.

When I graduated college and went to Med school, I learnt about "curves" You know those bells you solve in statistics? those curves... exactly like those. your grade will depend on who is the highest and who is the lowest, if the lowest is really low, the curve will suffer, and a lot of students will fail. If the highest will also very high (say get a 100), then the curve will suffer as well. What kind of measurement is that when it depends on your batch?

it's very frustrating when you're not making your own grades. You may be, partially, but you will still depend on the curve.

And when you see that guy the one who didn't go to class and marked failed due to absences, but passed, it is a bit annoying.

And yet if you belong on these institutions, and you raise these concerns, you will suffer even more.

The words she says are true, but not a lot of people understand the frustration of doing your absolute best, and being proud of your work,  then get a marking lower than expected, it is bothering. Very bothering.

They call her a sore loser. But what if she's right? there are bad teachers, and teachers who favors students. For me, school was all about politics. If you're quiet and just do your job, you won't get much. But if you're that bright kid and friendly to all the faculty and staff, it's easier.

if you're thinking why won't we just do what she did? well because we are afraid. Because if we ask for transparency, we're pretty sure to get a failing mark instead. and you know what, we don't have evidence of a good grade because they never return our exams. and we never lay our eyes in our finals.

these things taught me, some schools are just plain greedy. They prefer failing students cause they cash in more money. if you're too bright, you just pass or else they'll be questioned.

One thing that those things teaches you is this. In the end, once you graduate, grades doesn't matter. some companies want TORs with your resume, but you can always forge those anyway. But there are a lot more companies who can offer you great salaries without basing it on your grade.

it's all about your skills. Most of the brightest of the bright becomes sad. Scholars are required by the school to teach, instead of going to the field and doing their course. A lot of them get stuck because it's their first job and treated right. It becomes their comfort spot. I'm sure some just do a career change altogether and become professors. They can't make the same amount of money that the average person can make when they graduated without honors.

Cut the child some slack. Let her complain her heart out cause she just graduated and can finally leave that institution that made her sad. One day she'll realize, just choose what things to do your best at, not at everything.

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