It is generally said that it is important to recognize students' efforts. Some people disagree with the statement because it might be somewhat unfair to top-ranking students who deserve all the prizes. I, however, believe that giving students awards for their efforts is more important for the two reasons: to enhance students' confidence, and to encourage for the worst students to begin to study.
First and foremost, receiving prize for students' efforts provides chances for them to gain confidence, which helps them reach their potential. It doesn't take genius to know that students begin to study harder as they have confidence on it. Consequently, they can show better performances. There is a reliable research that supports my opinion. According to Gallup, the famous research institute in Korea, 70% of social leaders of South Korea said that getting an close attention by teachers was the most important motivation for them to be who they are today. They also responded that if there were prizes or awards not only for the grades but also for the efforts, their talents would've been exerted much earlier and further. It implicates that giving prize for the efforts can be an opportunity for students to find their ability and reach their potential.
On top of that, recognizing one's effort promotes the worst students to begin to study. Everyone knows that the worst students are simply doing nothing because they know they can be never received any prizes or awards. However, if the school looks them in different ways and gives proper recognitions, even the worst students can be changed. From my personal experience, when I was a junior school students, my school had pretty unique incentive system, called effort-merited scholarship. The school bestowed scholarship to the students who showed great progress, not to the students who came in the first. Its result was astonishing. The rate of students who dropped the course declined by 30%. In addition the score of the students (who were) in the lowest 10% of grades increased by 50%, since the worst students began to study, instead of doing nothing. Likewise, giving awards on the efforts helps the worst students have a chance to try something.
To summarize, giving students awards for their efforts can play a key role to to improve the students confidence, which makes them exert their ability, and to stimulate the worst students to start to study. All in all, no one can deny the necessity of effort-based recognition. |