Are good grades a pre-requisite to success? Tom Hines examines all the facets to this argument

CONSIDER this: The final examinations are nearing, and a parent bribes his child saying, "If you stand first, I'll get you the latest Play Station. If, however, you stand second, then we'll see what to get you." In another home, a parent tells her child, "For every test that you get an A grade in, I will give you twenty dollars."

Competition can be good, if it is healthy. But, in this day and age, the word has transformed into a different meaning altogether. So much so that the race to score high has become a part of the lives of very young students. "Sometimes, even parents cannot be blamed for they know that the system is so grade-oriented, that nothing else will work, "says software engineer John Thomas, who has always been an academic topper. "If, even after scoring a GPA of 3.6 in class X, a student cannot get admission to a college of her choice, what options are left?" he adds.

This leads us to a vital question: Are excellent grades a pre-requisite to success? Not all success stories say so. In 1975, a young student dropped out of Harvard University at the age of 20. Today, the company he started employs more than 64,000 people across 85 countries. He is the richest person in the world according to Forbes' 2006 list and is widely considered to be the world's most giving humanitarian, as he has donated more than half his fortune to charities. He is Bill Gates, co-founder, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation.

If there is a lesson to be learned from his life, it isn't that dropping out of school is a good idea. Rather, it's the dedication and hard work that will prove rewarding, if only you believe in your dreams and work towards to achieve it.

KNOWLEDGE IS MORE IMPORTANT

"Grades are important, but not the end of education. The mark made in life is far more important, and to make this mark, knowledge, skill and the right attitude is essential. This comes from education. Grades may or may not reveal these qualities but low grades show the absence of knowledge. In that sense, grades are important, "says Prof BK Nair, Department of Business Management, University of Georgia.

According to Nair, any education program has three objectives: Concept clarity, skill development, and information, which are not always determined by the grades you score.

Final year MD student of Indiana University topper, Angela Weaver, feels that at the professional level, there is no difference between the topper and the next 20 rankers. "The entire system is so grades oriented, that students feel they have no other option. In medicine, your grades don't necessarily reflect the kind of doctor you are, since the theory papers don't depend on how much you know, but how good your presentation skills are," she says, adding, "so, just because you don't score wel...