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A very good morning to our honorable judges, headmasters, teachers, time keeper and
all my fellow friends. My speech today is entitled “Grades do not measure intelligence”.
Many times, grades do not measure our intelligence. There are times when students
have bad days, sick days or time suffering from test anxiety. All of these will affect exam
grades, thus the grades cannot measure how much we have mastered the subjects or
On the other hand, what about the individuals who cannot afford an education and do
not know facts that seem basic to you? Do you also consider them as unintelligent
students? They could happen to know more than anyone of us. For example a kid who
has never been to school but has been helping out in the vegetables farm, he will know
everything related to planting vegetables, from identifying seeds to harvesting and the
types of vegetables.
Everybody has different strengths and weaknesses. Some are very good in Science
and English but they fail Mathematics tests. However when this happens, many will
perceive them as being less intelligent due to the one subject that has failed to score. If
you cannot score A in your English paper. It is okay as you could be good at
Mathematics. You can be an accountant in the future then. If you cannot score A in your
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Science paper, it’s fine. You could be good at drawing which you could be an artist next
time. If you cannot score A in your Mathematic paper but you can sing well. You could
Grades limits us. Grades are important for our future especially when we are looking for
jobs. This is because most people think that if you have good grades, you are smart. If
you have low grades, you are less intelligent. When people think this way, they are
devaluing the person. Even so, everyone is good in their own way, just might not be
academically. For example, you can excel in sports if you are gifted with in sports, such
as Liverpool footballer Muhammad Salah. This does not indicate that he is not good
academically but he can be our role model to look up to if we are good in sports.
Besides that, famous and successful people in the digital world could be another
choice. For example, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is a wealthy and successful
businessman who dropped out Harvard University two years into his degree and later
cofounded Microsoft. He is intelligent and yet he did not have a college degree when he
started his company. Likewise, Steve Jobs was also a college dropout but later co-
founded Apple. This is not to say that education is not important but it is not THE
MOST IMPORTANT factor to decide if a person will be successful in his life in future.
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Grades cannot measure our intelligence. The numerical system also cannot define how
smart one person is. If you get low grades in exam, and people start marking you as
less intelligence, prove them wrong! Strive hard in what you do best!
In some countries including Finland, schools do not even have tests or if they do there
are a few. So if grades DO measure intelligence then the students in these countries will
Therefore, students should worry less about their grades and instead care more about
understanding what they have learned . Getting an “A” on a test will not mean anything
if you cannot use the knowledge you learned to real-life situations. In fact, students
should concentrate on developing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather
In conclusion, I agree that grades can be important but it is definitely not a way to
determine the intelligence of someone. It cannot define who you are, and how you will
do in the future. Low grades achievers should never give up on ourselves or feel
useless. Being a straight A score does not determine good job performance, tip-top
socializing skill or high emotional intelligence. As long as we do our best to strive and