Certare Ingenio and the Meaning of Life

One of the hardest parts about being a student is keeping up with all the work that we have and balancing it with sports, arts, and social activities. Many of us constantly feel the need to achieve a 4+ in everything we do and are often unsatisfied with a 4- or 3. With our first report card that came out last week, our narrow focus on grades sometimes makes us forget that school is really about learning rather than whether we’re going to be tested on the material. From students’ competitive nature to their intellectual curiosity, Havergal’s distinctive “marks culture” can tell us about a lot more than just level grades. 

When I first started investigating this topic, I was expecting to hear a lot about the high expectations Havergal students have for themselves and how good or bad grades make us feel. A survey completed by 66 students in the Upper School proved my predictions to be relatively true: of the 66 surveyed, 56.1% believed a level 3 to be a mark they wouldn’t be happy with. When asked how receiving a “bad grade” made them feel, students often used words like “disappointed”, “sad”, “stupid”, “upset” or “angry”. It seems that grades give students a sense of validation and promote a goal-oriented attitude. However, when their goals aren’t met, students feel worse about themselves and devalue the work they’ve put into a test or project. But why do students seem to take the hit of “bad” grades—which aren’t really so bad—so heavily? 

The survey showed that over 70% “care a lot” about their grades, and when asked why, almost all students answered something along the lines of “because good grades are important for getting into university and a successful future.”

When we imagine success, images of graduating from a prestigious university, becoming a doctor, lawyer or business-person, and having a stable, happy life may come to mind. Having these high expectations and aspirations for oneself is, for the most part, a good thing; it keeps us motivated. Good grades fit into this picture in the sense that they are required for university, and university is important for a stable career and ultimately, a good life. However, the intrinsic motivation of the majority of Havergal students comes with the presence of intense competition and tension in the student body. Dr. Reuter, a Latin and philosophy teacher, brings up an interesting point about human beings and how we are often concerned about status. “Human beings, wherever they show up, are always going to be interested in status. So whatever the currency is––outside of the school on Bay Street it may be money or it may be assets, ‘I have this car or I have this house’––we tend to find something we can compare with others, these status symbols we can show to the world. I was reading about the philosopher Epicurus, and one of the opening lines in the second book of Lucretius is “certare ingenio”. He is trying to pull his students away from this certare ingenio, this contest of wits.” At school, grades are our currency and how we determine status. Someone with better grades is thought of as smarter, better, and has a looming “higher” rank or presence over others. However, it is important to know that these indicators of status––clothes, cars, grades, whatever it may be––are superficial and not what life is all about.

Ms. Norberg, the Head of Senior School, has also taken notice of this competitive energy. She finds that Havergal students perform very well in their classes, sports, arts, and community involvement. However, she also notes that in an environment where everyone is doing well, it is very easy to feel as though you are falling behind or not as good as everyone else. “It is almost a societal pressure, too,” she states. “A lot of families choose for their students to come to Havergal because they want them to be successful. It’s important to understand that life isn’t always about getting a 4+. Intellectual curiosity is far more valuable than ticking boxes to getting a 4+.” Similarly, Dr. Reuter hopes that more students, and more people in general, could see the value in knowing and being diligent (Latin word diligere which means “to love”). Try to know something. Not by studying for a test, but by searching for knowledge and being curious, and changing the way you look at the world and the way you look at yourself. “You may discover that knowing and loving may, in the end, turn out to be the same,” says Dr. Reuter. “I really do think that to know something, one needs to get "close" to it––really close. In that ‘place’ of intimacy, one will see things and feel things that are impossible to see or to feel from far away. Love works in exactly the same way: when one loves, one notices things. The more one notices, the more one loves. And love's magnetic or gravitational force pulls us in close. ” When we are truly curious about something, and we learn to know it, it is a lot like loving.

So do students think too much about their grades? As guidance counsellor Ms. Buchanan points out, this is a difficult question to answer. “I am hesitant to say students care too much because I am also aware there are students who work incredibly hard to achieve those grades,” she says. “It sometimes is a big part of themselves and even their identity.” Nonetheless, she also hopes that students take their experience and the feedback given to them and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as a learner. Sometimes, we are so fixated on things like our marks that we lose connection with what is important—our development as learners. This brings us to the question of what Havergal can do to help foster motivation and curiosity. To direct the focus more on feedback and less on letter grades, Havergal has already taken away proficiency awards and distinction in the middle school, which allows middle schoolers to be less worried or stressed about grades and more excited about learning.

All things considered, our grades probably won’t stop being important, and we will still be stressed about them. But we can try to think about grades and report cards not as a validator of our hard work or success, but just as a small part of our learning. We can work toward comparing ourselves less with others and concentrate on how we can develop as students and as learners. In turn, shaping the “marks culture” at Havergal from a culture of fear––of certare ingenio––to one of trust and curiosity.