mitzvahgirl613:
That story is truly great. One thing bothered me, though it is not about your story but something in general. Let’s follow the logic.
The goal of all schooling, at least that which is considered Torah chinuch, is to help each student develop into a carrier for the next generation, another link in the chain of Yiddishkeit, progressing from Matan Torah through all of our history and into the future. It is clear that the goal of such chinuch is to produce the Yiras Hashem and Ahavas Hashem that forms that link. The volume of data that has been transmitted is not even a factor in that formula. Whether someone retains more or less information, be it psukim of Chumash, numbers of Mishnayos, or blatt of Gemora is completely irrelevant. Why then are report cards, that are meant to reflect the success of a talmid/oh based on grades that reflect only retention of information? Perhaps these report cards portray more of the teacher’s success than anything informative about the student.
Your teacher’s comment was beautiful. It would have been unnecessary if the process of grading was geared to overall progress of the student growing into a fine Bas Yisroel, not the capacity to spit back information on tests. You were indeed fortunate to have a teacher who valued the right things. Maybe we will be zocheh in our days to see schools focus more on development of character than on downloading data.