Nice Hair, Good Grades
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Jeff McQuillan's Online Photo
Being successful in an American school requires, as in other schools throughout the world, that you do your homework and study. However, that is certainly not the only thing that helps determine how well students perform in school as measured by their GPA. (GPA stands for grade point average, which is the combination of your grades from all of your classes. GPAs go usually from 1.0 to 4.0 - “perfect” grades (all As) would be a 4.0 GPA.)
A recent research study reported in the New York Times found that there are other things that influence teachers in determining student grades. This isn’t too surprising, especially if you have ever been a teacher. But what exactly are those things that are most important other than intellectual ability and hard work?
A US government survey of more than 20,000 high school students asked the survey interviewers to rate (give a grade or points) each student on (related to) three factors: their attractiveness (whether they are good looking or not), their grooming habits (whether they brush their hair, dress neatly, etc.), and their overall personality (are they pleasant to be with, positive, easy to talk to, etc.).
The research found that these three factors did influence student grades, but the specific factors were different for boys and girls. For a boy, good grooming caused a statistically significant increase in his grade, while boys who were slovenly (messy, not neat with your clothing and hair) got significantly lower grades from teachers. For girls, having a pleasant personality was the most important factor influencing grades, while good grooming was less important than it was for boys.
Perhaps most interesting in this study of American schools was the finding (a conclusion based upon the data of the study) that very attractive girls actually suffered a slight decrease in grades because of their beauty. Perhaps this is due to the fact that teachers think that beautiful girls are somehow not very smart. (Some people say that beautiful girls are able to get what they want in life without having to work as hard as those who are less attractive, so perhaps there is some truth to this? Being ugly and male, I have no personal experience.)
As in all research, of course, there could be other factors involved here that weren’t studied. For example, it may be that the same discipline and skills that help someone be a good student (organized, responsible) may also help someone groom themselves better.
I suppose now with online learning the most important thing may be not what you really look like, but what sort of photograph you put on the web to represent you! (See above the photograph that I am going to use for any classes I take online.)
Jeff
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