Do grades really matter?

Last year, after a lesson with one of my Year 12 students, I noticed she was looking off so we had a chat after class. She attends a prestigious private school and was feeling overwhelmed by work and the pressure to do well because she was surrounded by high achievers.

I told her the same thing I tell all my students:

So what if you don't do well?

So what if, in the absolute worst case scenario, you completely fail and have to re-do VCE next year? Does it really matter?

How do you know that won’t lead to some opportunity that’s even greater than what you hoped for? Where are you so eager to rush to anyway? Life in the corporate world?

Ok I'm paraphrasing because it was a while ago, but it didn’t come out quite as blunt as it reads above. What I did guarantee is that developing her resilience right now was more important than any arbitrary grade any examiner could give her.

She seemed to feel better after the chat and we didn’t talk about it again.

…until last week, when I caught up with her and she told me a part of that story that she didn't tell me that day.