What's better, effort or achievement?

Esther Yang
10/6/08
Period 3: English
9:00 PM

I was reading a sample SAT essay question, and it asked if teachers should grade students based on their high achievements or effort. Both seem reasonable to be graded on, but as I started to think deeply, I believed that teachers should grade students on their effort.

I believe when students get a letter grade such as an "A," "+B," it does make themselves and their families happy and proud, but if you think farther into that, people CAN get top grades without even trying, or even cheating. Everyone is different, and some people are just born with sharp minds, understanding everything quickly and getting the job done simple. Others take a long time to understand, and are slow, painstaking workers. For me, I'd rather give an A to a slow worker that manages to try their best in their school work, rather than to give an A to an intelligent student that does not try their best.

When you see people in this world that have made a difference, or have succeeded in their career paths, they have all had to try their best and at one point, expand their limits. I don't believe your grades mean anything if you didn't earn your way up, or didn't try. I think the way to truly succeed is by working for it and being driven to try your best. The world will always appreciate and favor people that have the ability to do ingenius works, but what's the use if you don't put all the potential to work? People want to see the rare individuals that are willing to put in their full effort and time until they think they have done their utmost best.

Isn't that why Eleanor Roosevelt believes life should be lived to the fullest? Isn't that how the people that have changed history positively did the incredible things they did?

Effort is what determines how far people can go in life. A single letter does not prove your intelligence, or your ability.