COVID-19 school closure disrupts grade-dependent culture

Going online to see what score I need on my math final to earn an A in the class is second nature to me. That’s not uncommon: Throughout my entire education, I’ve met very few students who show up to class with the intent of learning and not just to get a good grade. Scoring guides are handed out on the first day of school, and I hear the question “Is this graded?” almost every day.

That isn’t to say that teachers do not care about their students’ learning — in fact, the very opposite is true. Many of my teachers discourage questions about grading. Unfortunately, we, as high school students, have created a culture where the only way for teachers to engage us in a curriculum is through grades.

So, when the first cases of COVID-19 within our community were announced, and school was inevitably shut down, this grade-dependent culture was disrupted. Some of my first concerns were whether my current grades would become my semester grades, whether my upcoming chemistry lab would be omitted, or whether I would get an A in so-and-so’s class.

I wasn’t alone in my concerns. Prior to my school’s closure, teachers were pelted with questions about exempt assignments, online grading and finals. However, upon reflection, I felt absolutely mortified. Have I become so wrapped up in external validation that I am more concerned about my grades than the health of my community? Further, the health of the world?

There’s a quote from the television show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” that now takes on an urgently relevant sense. In response to her sister panicking over the loss of a diamond earring, Kourtney Kardashian says, “Kim, there’s people that are dying,” in an attempt to ground her in reality. In this situation, I’m the self-centered Kim Kardashian, and my diamond earring is the obsession with grades to which we’ve all become accustomed.

Upon realizing that I had reached a Kardashian-level of ignorance, I decided that I and my peers desperately needed to redefine our relationship with learning.

Attending class is a privilege, considering the number of people throughout history who have suffered in the name of equal education rights. As Nelson Mandela put it, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Education is the sole means to activism. Before creating a COVID-19 vaccine, you need to understand basic lab rules. Before closing pay gaps, you need to understand the roots of prejudice. What we absorb now in our chemistry and history classes, however boring it may seem, will later help us combat the growing number of global issues.

Knowledge has real-world applications, and our ability to problem-solve is more important than getting an A on a test. Unfortunately, students like myself often lack the ability to galvanize ourselves into learning without the incentive of grades.

However, I know that my peers care about the world. We want to address climate change, systematic oppression, women’s rights and countless other issues we have been introduced to in our classes.

History has taught us that education is the means to solving all these issues. If we hope to ever make the world a better place, we must connect our passions and dreams for the future with our education today, and that begins with doing our ungraded homework.