Research Essay Sample about Grades: How Important Are They?

In his enlightening essay “Why grades matter,” Chester E. Finn Jr. points out that students aim to achieve high grades, but don’t entirely see how they will benefit them in the future. He concludes that grades serve as a way to determine the quality of one’s work based on a scale and can help map a student’s future. As expected, there are many individuals that feel differently about the benefits of maintaining good grades than Finn does. Why are grades stressed so much? A pie graph conducted by Joe Feldmen and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) suggests that the chances of failure is 3 times the chance of excellence (A or B), producing the message; the odds of failing are far greater than the probability of succeeding. Simply put, students are discouraged. To support their thought that grades are there to benefit them and not to discourage them, students should take the classes that they have a sincere interest in where they will be able to show more growth and passion.

Because students are so coaxed into thinking that grades are only used as a college reference, they disregard that their future employer(s) do take in consideration of their academic transcripts.  In his Washington Post article “Making the grade still matters” Jeffrey Selingo enforces the idea that “grades don't ultimately matter in getting a job” but they are a signal of a student’s “effort, grit, and determination” (Par. 2 and 4). The “grit” and “determination” to which Selingo refers to consists of a student’s passion to which they apply to their work ethics. During stressful times, many students ignorantly push their more challenging assignments to the side, claiming that they’ll finish it later on, but instead find themselves drowning in a much heavier workload than if they had completed it when it was assigned. In “Are Employers Interested in Grades?” Ron White makes the point that your academic performance and your overall grade point average are “vital indicators” of “[one’s] professional success” (Par. 3-4).  The “key indicators” White mentions is emphasized to illustrate that grades are not just pass or fail symbols but are used as a source to visualize one’s dedication. Supporting Selingo, White claims that grades are not there to just measure one’s academic intelligence but to display how hard one is willing to work to achieve their full potential. White also claims that an employer will look at your “performance needed for your major” and the classes “deemed most relevant” to the position you are applying for (Par. 4). He raises the concept that the field you are looking into will determine how an employer (or university) views your academic performance. For example, if a student is looking to become a mathematician, most of the time an employer isn’t going to determine how qualified they are based solely on how well (or poorly) they did in english. Being pressured into thinking that grades will determine their life success, students are enticed to believe that taking the hardest classes will make them stand out and look the most impressive.

Rather than stressing over the 5 advanced placement (AP) classes they decided to take, students should instead select their classes deemed upon their interests and where they can see themselves in the future. Selingo raises another point in his article that colleges tend to look for students who “challenge themselves” in areas where they are the “strongest”, not the ones who can say they took 9 out of the 15 AP classes back in high school (Par. 6). Selingo appears to mean that impulsive course selection could impact one’s grade performance and discourage them to fully apply themselves to the task at hand. The need to have the highest grade point average and take the most impressive classes creates the delusion that only the best of the best will get into a university and become successful. In her post “Why grades don’t really matter” Emma Bevilacqua states that “[students] are only motivated by things that interest them”, hence if a student takes the courses that they are truly passionate about then they are more likely to succeed in them compared to the classes they strongly dislike (Par. 5). To Bevilacqua, the classes students will truly exceed are the ones that they are most passionate about and don’t mind spending a little extra time to get ahead in them. Because students take the classes they wholeheartedly love they will be able to achieve a greater status than they ever could if they had still had a balanced, but more rigorous, schedule.  Nonetheless, Chester E. Finn claims in his article “Why grades matter” that “inflation to [a student’s] report card” serves to “deflate their life prospects.”, meaning that the more they succeed in their “grey” classes the further away they get from their core interests (Par. 8). Taking the classes a student has genuine interest in will improve their grade. Some of the positive changes could include a higher grade point average that they would make with the courses they exert more time and effort in, allowing them to further their knowledge in what may be their potential career field. Thinking selectively about their school schedule might cause a student to second guess whether or not they’ll be able to exert more time and effort to fully proper in their advanced placement classes. 

While naysayers like Emma Bevilacqua see grades as inconsequential in the long run, they are a crucial factor to mapping one’s future and should be taken seriously. Bevilacqua argues that grades do matter, but “only to an extent” claiming that they do not “accurately measure [one’s] intelligence” and employers will “hire [a person] based on [their] interview ” and not their academic records (Par. 3 and 8). While grades may not, according to Bevilacqua, be thoroughly “efficacious” one can hardly deny their significance. The hard work and persistence of attaining success is part of the reason why White choses to call grades “key indicators'', meaning that they are more than just a percentage of one’s academic intelligence but prove to display their mental strength and will power (White, Par. 3; “Are Employers Interested in Grades?”). While she does believe that some students have “an advantage over others” she does state that “the smartest students are the most passionate” (Par. 8). In a way, Bevilaqua makes a point similar to Finn, which is that the more passionate a student is in a subject the higher the chance that they will excel in it. However, the writers reach conflicting conclusions: Finn, that grades are something that will lead to a person’s success; Bevilacqua, that an employer hires a person based more off their interview and personality. As students, it's crucial to think about the classes we take and if they are lighting the pathway of our future. Chester E. Finn reasons that grades are “like ratings'' and we use ratings to help “distinguish the quality from mediocrity” (Par. 5). While the grading system is far from perfect, it is effective as grades serve as a way to separate an outstanding piece of work from a lousy one. Bevilacqua correctly suggests that some people just aren’t as “book-smart” as others and do not fare as well with the standardized grading system, but there is no limit to one’s intelligence if they simply choose to apply themselves. And if one doesn’t consider the odds of them failing and instead focuses on the chances of them succeeding, acquiring an A doesn't seem so implausible. Knowing early on how and why maintaining good grades will benefit them, will allow students to thoughtfully choose their courses and pursue their passion without having an extra workload from classes impulsively chosen.  

The hardest 5 AP classes each with 2 hours of homework that students take just to get into their dream university/job, proves to be a chaotic and unnecessary burden in one’s adolescent life, but choosing their classes deliberately and solely based on their own interests will increase their level of success in their desired field. Even a more lightened agenda in course selection to just 2 or 3 advanced classes rather than an excessive amount would mean less stress and more free time. Given that students feel the need to attain good progress reports, it proves that they do care about their grades at the end of the day. As Finn points out, “As students, we happen to take school grades seriously and derive satisfaction and pride from the good ones” (Par. 1).