The report port
We're building the world's largest collection of school reports. Every report and certificate, coming from all continents and many decades, has its individual story.
Here's why we do it.
But before we start, have a look at Josef's record:
This is the oldest school report we have received so far, it is one of almost 30,000 by now.
It was handed over to a young man in 1897 when he left school for good at the age of thirteen. His name was Josef, he was quite an athlete and in academic terms a total failure.
This leaving certificate travelled quite a distance over the years.
Josef, having had not much interest in what school was trying to teach him, fell out of favour with his family. They were disappointed. Josef didn't seem to show any talent to manage the family joinery one day, nor did he want to work there. He had other ideas and was fascinated by the inventions of one man in Mannheim, Germany, a Mr. Benz.
In the summer of 1906, Josef decided to emigrate to Canada. In Ontario, he got married and started a family. At the age of 23, he started working for Canada's first car company, Gordon McGregor & Wallace Campbell (April 1907). When he eventually retired in the mid-fifties, Josef had a house, four healthy sons and a presentable amount of money in the bank.
His grand-grandson Timothy, then a teenager of 15, wanted to earn some extra cash in the summer of 2000. His parents suggested he could take care of the attic. And that is how Josef's school report was discovered. The entire family was stunned.
Josef had always maintained that he was an excellent scholar to motivate his sons to try harder and show more ambition. The certificate was framed and given a place of honour above the mantelpiece.
Of course, the intention was not to diminish the memory of a grandfather who had been a smart, cheerful and industrious man with a head full of original ideas. Quite the opposite, the family understood his intentions and there was unanimous consent that in future, nobody should ever have to feel ashamed of their grades and reports.
Timothy had also found something else: A journal. Reading Josef's notes, he realized that he must have suffered from homesickness a great deal. But he never let on. Clearly, had he been a better student in his time, he would never have left Europe.
Josef's legacy.
Today, over three dozen of descendants live in all parts of the world. Eight of them are Global Natives, identify as global citizens and feel strongly connected to their European roots.
Timothy, now 37 and father of three little girls, is a dyslexic and remembers only too well how he struggled in school because of it. When he heard of the Bad Students Society, he went to take a photograph of the school certificate on the wall and mailed it to London.
He wrote:
"I am so thrilled with the idea of solidarity with and amongst bad students! Grades are needed, no doubt, and so are specified goals and benchmarks. But they must judge the performance and never the person. Our extended family has its fair share of troublesome teenagers too, and I don't want to think for a moment that a crisis should lead any one of them to leave home forever!"
An invitation to everyone who cares about the future
of learning and the all too often wasted potential of
underachievers and other presumptive failures:
| Please send in your school reports and leaving certificates! Visit The Collection to upload your reports to the report port and invite family, friends and colleagues to do the same. We're building this collection to create a comprehensive anonymized databank. |  |
It will give us meaningful and insightful information so that we, in collaboration with an international group of scientists, including some of our own members, can work on solutions on how to change learning in the 21st century.
The collection will give us knowledge and sound arguments. What we learn from it will initially be offered to member families as part of the community's opportunities. Workable and tried solutions will then be made public as best practice models for all.
Reports from family and ancestors (as you saw above!) are very welcome too 😊
Please do take the time to provide details to help us put it in context. We appreciate all background on what became of you or of the family member. Did you succeed because of or despite your grades? Did you achieve your goals? Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
.
The collection will give us knowledge and sound arguments. What we learn from it will initially be offered to member families as part of the community's opportunities. Workable and tried solutions will then be made public as best practice models for all.
Reports from family and ancestors (as you saw above!) are very welcome too 😊
Please do take the time to provide details to help us put it in context. We appreciate all background on what became of you or of the family member. Did you succeed because of or despite your grades? Did you achieve your goals? Comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
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