The car came to a halt as the garage gates shrilled shut behind Ishaq, while he was getting off the vehicle. Ishaq hopped over the three steps that lead to the elevator, and pushed the call button with his bare finger, despite all the Covid-19 safety precautions.
"Wow, that exam went great!" he thought to himself. The doors opened to light up and reveal his reflection on the mirror inside the elevator. He saw himself carrying his exam equipment, wearing a sweaty school uniform, and a surgical face mask.
"I really should not be this excited. What if something went wrong?" He creased his eyebrows as he stepped inside. As the elevator began to approach the sixth floor, Ishaq got lost in his daydreams about how he would entertain himself throughout his semester break. All on a sudden, a vibration on his phone pulled his head out of the clouds. He took it out to see a message from his friend that reads “The results of the last session are out now!”
While this sequence of events (results of the last semester coming out after the new semester final) was unusual, it had to happen to adapt to the pandemic. Before we continue this story, however, we will need to look at the concept of academic results, and whether they should matter in the long run.
Each generation has to tackle different challenges. Some had to deal with social and political movements, wars, legal developments, climate change, and more recently, students had to deal with board examinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is safe to say that problems introduce themselves daily, and they can have a negative psychological impact on an individual who is unequipped with the correct mindset.
Ever since the arrival of the pandemic, depression and anxiety rates have been at an all-time high, as university students are concerned with their academic and professional careers. Furthermore, studying at home through online classes has reduced the efficiency in a student's daily routine.
With the accessibility to the internet amid the progression of an exam, cheating has become prevalent. But what causes the student to put academic results on a pedestal that they are willing to cheat for it? The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in the USA has found out that the education system is designed to make both the teachers and students focus more on getting higher grades, rather than the learning process. Therefore, to please their parents and get accepted to the top universities, students require good grades, making it their ultimate goal.
Gunderson et al 2013, a foreign research study, has proven that praising children for the effort they put in the learning process instead of shunning their mistakes, had a better outcome in the long-run, compared to only preparing them to get an "A" on their report cards. Teaching children that it is good to make mistakes because they cannot learn unless they make mistakes, changes their worldly view from a young age. They will, thus, be more willing to learn and explore, making education a fun activity to engage in daily, rather than a chore. This is the embodiment of the growth mindset. Anyone with a growth mindset will see each obstacle appear as a challenge, rather than a problem.
It is natural for students to have their heart skip a beat once they find out that they failed, but what one does after failure is what matters in the long run. Just like Ishaq, who stood still with his results displayed on his phone as the elevator dinged upon arrival. He then took in a deep breath, knowing that he would not be able to relax as he had originally planned. But that was alright because no one learned to walk without falling, and he was going to learn from his failure and come back even stronger.
Naufel Anwar is a random first year LLB student from British School of Law.
