STUDENTS LIFE

This blog is devoted to the life of students and the problems they face.

Four Ways A-students React to a Failing Grade

Some students are used to getting straight As. However, sometimes they can fail and get B or C. The students’ reactions to less successful rating will be different. The current paper will discuss four different reactions of A-students to getting ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ grades.

The first group of students may deny lower grades, provide their own perception of how a specified incident did or did not occur, and offer different excuses. Such reaction is called self-defense – a student tries to protect his/her rights and his/her way of understanding the subject. For example, a student wrote an essay, interpreting the topic in his/her personal way, arguing with scholars and scientific theories. As a result, this student got C because of lack of evidence in his/her arguments. However, he/she does not agree with a teacher and tries to get away with excuses. Moreover, if a girl or a boy understands his or her wrongness, he/she will never tell the teacher about it. Such behavior is not the way out in terms of ethics and morality. Every person makes mistakes sometimes, and it is always better to listen to someone older, wiser, and more experienced in order to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

At times students react differently. They may try to ask for a second chance, to bargain for a passing grade. According to this type of reaction, a student understands his/her errors and wants to correct them. However, the methods may not always be acceptable. For example, a student changes his tone, tries to sound confused and desperate, and often sheds a tear. This way of reaction is aimed to make a teacher take pity on a student. Nevertheless, pity is not the best feeling. The student may achieve the right to rewrite his/her paper or to pass the test one more time, however, it will not be fair to other students. The most worthy way in this situation is to accept one’s wrongness and try to avoid the same errors later.

The third type of reaction is anger. The student is getting mad about a failing grade; he/she demands a higher grade because he/she deserves it. Sometimes a student can use violence to reach his/her goal. For example, if a student has rich authoritative parents, he or she can use this fact to suit his/her own ends. A son or a daughter of a ‘big’ father can threaten a teacher or a principal, telling them that their educational institution will get no sponsoring help, or that they will be deprived of their jobs. If a student was born or grew up in a family with an average income level, and he/she has no authoritative relatives, some other acts of violence may be used. For example, a student can take vengeance on a teacher: he/she may spoil the teacher’s documents, punch out holes in his/her car wheels, or play mean tricks on a tutor. All these violent ways will bring no success. A grade will not be improved, and the relations with teaching stuff will be damaged.

In his speech “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression”, Martin Luther King claimed that violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. If a student starts his educational process with violence, he/she will not be happy in his adulthood. He/she may lose all friends and stay alone with his/her untrue fortune. The best way to avoid this is to overcome one’s arrogance and admit an error.

There is one more type of reaction – and this is the most appropriate reaction with a view to morality and ethics – acceptance and analysis. For example, the A-student gets B or C, and he/she attempts to analyze the reason in a peaceful way. Such individual looks at his/her mistakes, speaks with a tutor, and tries to understand why he/she has made these errors. The student accepts his/her wrongness and learns from his/her mistakes. This reaction is the right one because the relationships between a student and a teacher will not be spoiled, and a student will have the incentive to work and study harder. As a result, educational process will not be broken, and all the parties will be satisfied.

After discussing the four ways of A-students’ reactions to a failing grade, one can draw the following conclusions. Different people react differently to particular circumstances. This difference can be both negative and positive. All the reactions are important; however, only one is acceptable in terms of ethics and morality. The other reactions will help either a student or a teacher to find out some problems in the educational process. Both students and tutors should be able to admit being in the wrong. If an A-student gets C, it is not the end of the world. The fourth reaction of the above-mentioned is the best way to remain a moral person in the eyes of others. Nevertheless, sometimes a teacher may be wrong, and he/she should also admit it. However, it is the theme of another reaction essays.