Kenneth Richards and Andonis Vitalis, Year 12
We’re halfway through the first term of the school year and things are speeding up. Tests, labs, internal assessments and written tasks are beginning to take control of our lives. On top of that, we have our nail-bitingly, painstakingly, scary character reports in the mail, all in a matter of 2 months!
School is becoming tough for many students, sacrifices are being made, new priorities are surfacing, and our sanity is effectively being tested to the limit. When it comes to an intensive workload that never seems to leave our shoulders, add to that the stress of grades and extracurricular activities, it’s not hard to see why the I.B. is considered one of the toughest diplomas in the world. Which is also why we think it’s important to help students momentarily remove themselves from their hardship and commitments, by completing our weekly surveys.
This week’s survey topic was on the recent character reports, which all the secondary school students received in recent weeks. We asked our reader whether you believed the character reports were a useful addition to the school’s grading system.
The question asked was: “What are your thoughts on the character reports?”
Below are the options that were given to students around campus:
- I like them because they provide specific information on what I need to improve.
- They are a definite improvement from the A-F system.
- The scale is too restrictive and doesn’t allow teachers to express their opinion.
- I don’t mind as long as I’m doing okay.
Most students (56%) chose the “I don’t mind as long as I’m doing okay” option. 32% of those who voted believed the scale was too restrictive and didn’t allow teachers to share their opinion. Option number 1, received only 9% of the votes suggesting that the student body doesn’t mind whether it’s an A-F grading system or a character one. Finally, the second option received only 5% of the votes, implying that the character reports don’t provide more specific information than the A-F effort grading system.
The outcome of this poll shows that students are likely to be more interested in their grades rather than their character build. It is important to consider that our generation suffers from the most academic stress of all time, so naturally students look at grades as the main indicator of their abilities. The question arises of whether the character reports really allow for much use? If students care solely about the grades, is there a point in having character reports at all? We don’t know, and according to you, beloved readers, you don’t actually mind – ‘as long as you’re doing okay’.
That’s it for this week’s poll, stay tuned though as more updates to our paper will be made in the coming days. Until then keep working, and share your opinions through the poll or by emailing us at info@lgbexpress.com !
