Students Should not be Defined by their Academic Performance

It is the beginning of a new term and the pressure for students to perform well can already be felt this early. Some of the pressure can be attributed to the form one selection. The names of those joining the

coveted National schools are already out leaving so many disappointed.

There is no doubt that our current education system is examination oriented. There are minimum grades set for primary school students to qualify to join certain secondary schools and also there is a minimum grade set for secondary school students aiming to join the university. Students work hard day in day out to attain the best grades and they have little regard for the value the education should add to their lives. Their lives are a constant battle to attain the required grade to move to the next level; Primary to Secondary then to University. The grades dominate our entire lives to the point that most students do not even have a clue of the career they desire to venture in. Most schools offer career guidance and counselling but at the end of the day, the grades determine your career path.

The system makes it even harder for students by awarding presents to top students and reprimanding those at the bottom. In some schools top students are given special treatment so as to make the others jealous of that position and to motivate them to work harder in the next examinations. Price giving day is just a remainder to the students of how they have to put all their efforts in their academics. In different homes, parents are constantly pressuring their children to aim at being the best in their class. None of them is ready to admit that their child is not good in academics; they tend to push the child to the wall because they want to see them at the top. The best way to deal with this situation is by accepting that, not every child is good in academics.

The media is in the forefront when it comes to appreciating academic excellence. They highlight the top schools when the national examination results are announced and they even shower them with praises. At times they even shame the poorly performed schools.

Top students are interviewed by various media stations so as to gain an insight into their performance and an even personal life, little or no attention is accorded to the poorly performed students. The media only feeds us with the negative side of the poorly performed schools for instance; there was the case of Nyakemincha Primary School which was among the schools that performed poorly in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations a few years back. It is through the media coverage that we knew the name of the school to mean, the owner of the tail and we also became aware of the poor conditions of the school.

Praising top students is a good way to recognise their efforts and to motivate them and their classmates to continue working hard. This is also an effective way of teaching students that not all of them can top the class. However, this should not be used to determine the future of a student; it should not be the ultimate judge of how the student will end up in life.

It is the constant pressure of doing well in examination exerted on students that has led them into psychological breakdown, running away from home and even suicide because of failure to reach society’s expectations. We have even witnessed students who complete secondary schools with no ideal of the career path they want to take; others just advance careers that are determined by their grades. This has been a major cause of university drop out when the students realise that they should have ventured into a different career. This has also resulted into the cropping up of incompetent employees in different line of professions because they lack the commitment in that field.

The government has made an effort to improve the current education system by trying to introduce one that will cater for students will different talents. It is about time we adopted a system that will allow students to shine in many different fields rather than academics only. Our country has lost so much talent in the quest for academic supremacy. Some schools have even banned extra-curriculum activities so as to ensure students put all their focus in academics. Excellence can not only be seen through the achievement of good grades in class but also by what a particular student is good at. With such a system it will then be fair to rank the students since every area of their strength and weakness will be covered.

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