Family get-together over the weekend. Two cousins were comparing their ranks, 3rd and 11th. Our daughter's IB report has descriptions and no marks at all. She came home and asked what rank she is. I said they don't do ranks at her school. She said 'so I'm last?' 😄 I explained it badly. How do you explain a no-marks report to a child her age without it sounding like we're hiding something?
Ha, we got 'so I'm last?' too, years ago 🙂 What worked a bit for us: the report describes what she can do, so read one line out as 'this is what your teacher noticed about you'. Ours liked hearing herself described more than she wanted a number.
My niece asked her parents the same thing. They told her that ranks tell you who's ahead in a race, and her report tells you how she's running. She repeats it to everyone now, slightly wrong ❤
the cousins will be explaining the same thing to their own kids in twenty years. ranks feel very important at that age and mean very little by 15.
I'd disagree a little. Ranks meant something for us at 15, for better or worse. And children know where they stand anyway, number or no number.
Keep going
More from the parents who were here.