When it comes to school, we all know who tries and who doesn’t. We can all tell who spends their evenings ankle deep in homework, and who spends their evenings running around at the park. Even though we sometimes don’t want to admit it, we all know these grades are usually reflections of our effort in that class.

However, there are exceptions to this. What makes a class more difficult? This seems to be a question that isn’t brought up as much as it should be. People learn in different ways. There are three main types of learning: aural, visual, and tactile.

As their names suggest, these types represent people who learn through sounds, sight, or experience. I myself seem to be a combination of audio and experience. When teachers speak, listening does the trick for me.

Since we all learn in different ways, this is a obstacle for teachers to get through. Some find a happy medium. Before we finish learning a concept, we both listen to the teacher speak about the concept, watch the concept in action, and have us go through a simulation ourselves.

I believe that this is what makes a good teacher: finding different ways to teach the same concept to anyone. Once they get this, I have no doubts that their class averages will begin to shoot upward.
Unfortunately, this is not the only problem students often have in classes. Other things that seem to cause students to stop putting forth their best effort include excessive amounts of homework and classes filled with effort grades.

While homework is good practice and helps boost grades after doing poorly on tests or quizzes, excessive amounts of it are annoying to most students.

“Homework (what I like to call busy work in high school) is too much if it takes longer than an hour. I think that most homework should be optional so that if you do not understand a concept, you can use the assignment to practice it. And, if you fail, well, that’s partly your fault if you didn’t even attempt the homework,” said senior Caroline Bernhardt.

While homework is a good study tool, I believe it is important that it isn’t overdone. I think it causes students to lose morale and stop trying their hardest.

When it comes to effort grades, most students would consider them a good thing in moderation. Sara Dow, a sophomore, when asked about this said, “If you have an “effort class”, it’s not preparing you for anything. It’s just going to make doing work harder if you’re used to doing nothing.”

Along with the concept of effort grades is the idea of extra credit.

“Extra credit is something I really appreciate, however from an objective standpoint it represents the massive grade inflation which has occurred at Liverpool High School,” said senior Eric Nagy.

” The 21 people above me in the class are probably MUCH brighter than about 4 points is able to show, however because of extra credit and some classes where a B- is pretty much the lowest you can get unless you’ve had a lobotomy, the top 30-60 are packed tightly.”

Extra credit can make a huge difference in your grade point average. In my opinion, extra credit opportunities should be offered, but infrequently. The work should be involved with the class, and help the students prepare for upcoming tests and finals.

Effort grades are a tricky concept for teachers. None can make a course harder, yet too many can give your class a reputation for being too easy. Teaching is all about balance. These are things that can affect the way students tackle their work load.

If you have a grade problem that has nothing to do with your teacher, and everything to do with your work ethic, admit it. We all have problems with procrastination, but the first step to overcoming these issues is admitting you have the problem in the first place.