The Ideal Student 2.0

What Straight-A Students Get Wrong by Adam Grant
New York Times, December 8, 2018

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Do the grades you get at school and university predict your future success? According to an article in The New York Times by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, doing well at school does not necessarily mean that you will excel in the workplace. The skills that are valued for early academic success - e.g., memorization and answering questions on exams - are not as valuable in the workforce as creativity and collaboration skills. Schools don't give grades for leadership skills, or for social, emotional, or political intelligence. And at school, students who spend their time pursuing passions and interests that may not be entirely academic may be learning more valuable skills for the future than the bookish "ideal" student holed up in the library. The article suggests that companies should make it clear that they will not recruit students with the highest grades and that universities should simplify grading systems and seek to enable intellectual risk-taking. "Getting straight A's requires conformity. Having an influential career demands originality," Grant contends. As such, we should encourage schools to put a greater emphasis on developing skills that will help our students excel and thrive in "the real world."