Be careful that in encouraging a grade, you don’t shortchange growth; for a grade ought to be a means to growth, helping students—and their parents—see where they are so they can know where to go. Ideally, grades are the beginning of a conversation about what lies underneath the surface: the “why” beneath the “what”.
In today’s episode, Heights Headmaster Alvaro de Vicente guides us through a nuanced discussion on how parents can understand, interpret, and respond to their sons’ grades while nurturing strong and lasting bonds. Acknowledging that grades serve as a judgment of the quality of a young man’s work at a given time, Mr. de Vicente sheds light on strategies to decipher the meaning behind the letters and numbers. Is it a problem of time, habits, or effort? Is it a helpful indicator of aptitude?
Regardless of the cause or cure, Alvaro reminds us that even more important than helping to raise a grade, is strengthening the bond parents have with their son.
Chapters
2:30 Defining grades
3:30 Grades: more than a necessary evil
5:00 How parents should approach grades
7:28 Digging into the “why” behind a grade
9:35 Elements of a grade: intelligence, time, habits, effort
14:45 Optimal Work and grades
16:55 Why boys need to own their grades
21:00 Evolving relationship with grades
24:00 Growth over grades
26:00 Respecting a school’s professional competence
29:35 What your tone communicates
36:35 Internal motivation
40:00 How to reframe as a parent
Recommended Resources
Punished by Rewards? from The Golden Hour Podcast
Also on the Forum
Handling Poor Grades: Steps to an Academic Reset with Michael Moynihan
Grinders Aren’t Heroes: On Student Motivation by Dave Fornaciari and Michael Hude
Motivation: Encouraging Reluctant Students by Tom Cox
