WHEN GRADES HAVE NO BEARING ON LIFE SKILLS

REPORT CARD: Our education system focuses on passing exams, putting less emphasis on inter-activity and the students’ surroundings

BY CAROL NATUKUNDA AND MOSES ODONGO

WHILE at Nakasero Primary School in the 1990’s, Patrick Ntungwa did not pay much attention to his school work. He was always bored in the classroom.

His end of term report card always carried 30% as an average mark, plus, of course, the rudest comments from his class teacher. He scored third grade in his Primary Leaving Exams, just enough to get into secondary school.

Today, his teachers would be surprised to learn that Ntungwa is among Kampala’s most successful advertising agents, doing mega-million-dollar advertising and public relations deals for corporates in Kampala. From his modest office downtown, he can see some of the billboards he has helped companies design.

Just recently, while taking a walk through Makerere University, he bumped into an old friend, walking hand in hand with a pretty young girl. He saw a potential deal — to take their shots and sell the idea to a bank, by designing an advert that targets university students. “You tune yourself to the reality around you, not your school report card,” he says.

Ntungwa’s success is the story your primary or secondary school teacher may not want you to know. It is the triumph of the “below-average pupil”, the boy who takes home report cards with remarks like: “If only he tried harder.”

His eyes glaze over as his English teacher tries to whip up enthusiasm to read harder. He gets lousy marks because he does not deliver what the teacher demands. But then, years later, he becomes so successful that the school brings him back to give inspirational speeches to students! As schools close their first term on Friday, children and parents will be swinging around with report cards.

Those who have emerged last could endure a thorough beating from their parents. But should it matter what grades the report card holds? Experts do not think so.

“In our culture, the report card is the most important thing. Marks make you compete for the best position and you will work hard, knowing that every single mark counts in determining the class position,” says Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, “but that doesn’t teach you life skills.”

Irene Mutumba, the executive director of the founder of the Private Education Development Network, agrees: “We are putting emphasis on the individual. Sit in the corner and read day and night to pass exams. You are focusing on yourself and your grades, forgetting that you have friends around you whom you can learn from,” Mutumba said recently at the launch of the competition to award African educators.

She stressed that a lot of other things, such as interactivity — beside school performance, predict achievement later on.

So, there is hope for that “below average” child, psychologists argue. “The truth is that many students who are perceived dull do extremely well outside class because the set of skills required to be a good student does not match the set of skills required to be successfull,” says Michael Thompson, a University of Chicago-trained psychologist and co-author of Protecting the Emotional Life of children. He quotes the old phrase: “School is a place where former A students teach mostly B students to work for C students.” It may be an over-generalisation, but it has “more truth than educators are comfortable with,” he writes.

Prof. Peter Matovu, a guidance and counselling specialist, agrees. As a psychologist, Matovu finds himself spending a lot of time talking to anxious parents about their children’s performance every end of term. He keeps telling them that a poor report card does not mean the child is headed for doom.

There are innumerable examples of weak students who changed the world — or made a pile of money. Former US President George W. Bush was reportedly a solid C student in his first year at Yale, but showed early promise as a politician because he could remember the names of each of the 54 oaths in his fraternity.

In Uganda, some of the greatest successful personalities or business tycoons did not even complete high school.

Defence of the report card
Some people feel they would not have made it in life if it were not for the report card. Julius, a 35-year-old consultant in accountancy, recounts how good marks opened doors for him.

“ The first thing my would-be sponsor looked at were my marks. Who is going to listen to you with zeros on the report? Or even connecting you to a job?” he asks.

A human resource consultant who prefers anonymity also concedes: “Many times, we take people with the best marks because they are focused and disciplined. Poor marks often portray the person as unserious.”

Some parents are also in defence of the grades. Edward Ochom, a Police officer and a parent, says with the demanding work schedules for parents in today’s world, the school report card comes in just as handy since they do not have time to supervise their children. Teachers argue that report cards are, to a great extent, an assessment and motivating tool to aim even higher.

Many people have good memories of their report cards. Beatrice Turyasingura, the headteacher of Buganda Road Primary School, says during her school days, the report card dictated the mood for the journey back home. “If I had been displaced, I would reach home in the evening,” says Turyasingura who completed school in the 1980s.

Way forward
Mandy suggests that teachers need to have sessions with both parents and students who perform poorly to find a way forward in helping the student.

“A parent who sits on a round table with a teacher makes a big impact on the learners’ determination to excel.”

Matovu says the report card should not just be about marks in academics, but also about other aspects such as sports and other co-curricular activities.

Aggrey Kibenge, the education ministry spokesperson, says the ministry encourages schools to equip children with life skills.