How you will be Judged

One of the funnier moments in academics is when you find out how long it takes to grade a scantron sheet.  This happened during one of my first final exams in college. You hand in your test to a teacher assistant, wait about 45 seconds, and all your hard work is reduced to the number.  All the hours of studying and hours of test-taking all funneled down into a simple two-digit number, your grade.  That’s when it hit me, that we are not be judged by the time, effort, and preparation we do.  We are judged only by our results.

Exams - Let’s delve into that exam.  You can think about the problems for 3 hours, use scrap paper to write out the theories.  You can debate back and forth filling in bubble C, then erasing and filling in D, only to switch back in the end.  You can try to come up with hypothetic scenarios, or real world scenarios just to give you some insight into the problem.   But no matter how much work you put in to that question, the result is binary: you either get it correct or incorrect.  There isn’t and shouldn’t be any middle ground.  Someone else could have guessed correctly, and they’d get the same amount of credit as you, even if you had written out an elaborate proof and be convinced without a doubt that choice C is indeed the best answer.

Sports - Another major area where judging occurs is sports.  Athletes practice tirelessly, run extra, lift extra, watch extra film, but they aren’t judged on their preparation or hard work.  They’re judged by their results. 

I went to high school with a very skilled wrestler.  I’ll never forget following his senior wrestling season.  3 weeks before the championship, he told me he dedicated himself to wrestling.  He stopped partying, drinking, and carefully monitored what he ate.  Then 3 weeks later he stood up as a state champion, the ultimate dream of so many high school athletes.  No one can take that away from him.  He’ll live his whole life glorified in the record books and walk around with a ring to prove it.

But, here’s the catch, and he’ll agree with my conclusions.  In no way, did he want it the most.  He didn’t prepare as hard as his competitors, and there’s no way he worked as hard.  There are wrestlers that devote themselves to the sport and the ultimate dream.  They’ve never drank.  They’ve never partied.  They don’t even touch soda. They’re constantly monitoring their weight and sleep in the cold basement so their body burns more calories. These wrestlers wanted it more, and trained harder for it, but we don’t reward practice in the real world, we reward results.  And he won, he ended the ultimate dream for so many other people, and he’ll be judged as a state champion and they won’t.

We judge athletes by their on-field performance not by what they do to prepare.  School and the real world are no different.  You’ll only be judged by what you hand in, by the results you present, not the work or lack there of you’ve put in.  Think about that next time you hand an assignment in.  Ask yourself, does what I hand in show all the work I’ve done?  Have I channeled all my hard work into the finished product?  Because, they don’t grade the work you’ve put in, they only grade the finished product.