Two years ago, during the transition between activities in class, I overhead a student talking to a classmate and she said, “School is all about getting good grades, not about learning.”  The comment really struck me.  I’m not sure what I had going on at the time, but I saw this as a teachable moment that I just couldn’t let pass.  Every single day I see students that are stressed out because of their workload and the pressure that they feel to get the grade, so they can get into the right school, to earn the right amount of money, and the cycle continues year-after-year.

Our education system is in a bad place when our families are only focused on GPA, when there are so many more factors that produce “college and career ready” young adults.  Yes, the grades and classes tell a big part of the story, but they do not tell the whole story of a students’ effort, commitment, character, etc.  I just got my son’s elementary school report card, and yes it is good to see his progress in each of the content areas, but what I value most as a parent is his learning behaviors, which are a separate section on his report card.

These learning behaviors are a great indicator of a student’s potential to be successful in the classroom, on the job or in the community.  Behaviors like:  Recognizing the rights of others with courtesy; follows established rules; exercises self-control; works cooperatively with others; takes appropriate risks; Listens attentively; Responds appropriately to directions; Persists when thinking through problems; Works with accuracy and precision; Writes legibly; and Completes classwork assignments.  I am not a college admissions officer, member of a scholarship committee, or hiring manager at a company, but if I were, I would be looking for the high school graduates that show a pattern of outstanding learning behaviors.  I want the young men and women that show respect for others, have self-control, can work with others, are willing to take reasonable risks, and persist through difficult challenges.

School is about learning.  School is about learning and developing the behaviors that are necessary to be productive citizens.  Students develop those learning behaviors through the coursework that they complete in school and often the only visible representation of their learning is a letter grade.  It is my personal goal as an educator to help my students understand that they are much more than a GPA or standardized exam grade.  They are the learning behaviors that they display daily.