How can we determine our self-value?

Slide 1 (Build up)

Before I begin with my presentation, I would like to ask you guys a question. Heres student
A, who gets straight 8s for every single assessment and theres student B, who fails every
single assessment he takes. If I ask you, who do you think has a higher value, what will be
your answer?

Slide 2 (Build up)

Moving on, heres another 2 students. This is Bryan Wee, who got full marks for his final IB
exam and there is Timstar, who barely passed his final IB exam with a mark of 28 because he
was too busy looking for a girlfriend. Again, who do you think has a higher value in the society
nowadays. What do you think Sally?

Slide 3 (Build up)

It is not surprising that many people answered student A and Bryan Wee, who are the
achievers of the highest grades in the exams. In fact, there are no right or wrong answers for
those question, the sole purpose is to point out a phenomenon in the society nowadays.

Slide 4
The problem with people, especially HK students nowadays is that we often
associate/determine our self-value with our grades. This kind of belief is ingrained into our
minds, causing students to consider that low grades equals to low value, vice versa. In fact, it
was found by the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention that 27% of students considered
suicide due to overstress.

Slide 5:
Just the thought of putting our grades before our lives, simply because our grades are
equivalent to our self-value is devastating. What is more important than our lives? Without our
precious lives, we wont even be existing in the first place and I wont be standing here
delivering this meaningful presentation.

Slide 6:
Okay, so what is the correct way of determining our self-value? What kind of aspect should
we base our self-values on? Why should you guys believe in my words anyway? All your
queries will be answered in the following presentation, so just sit back and enjoy the show!

Slide 7
long story short, the judgement of our self-values is and should be largely based on our inner
self, definitely not our grades. Inner self is basically our own uniqueness, in simpler words, our
personality, because these are our honorable values.

Slide 8:
So why is our personality more important anyway. The reason is simple. Unlike our grades,
which is something we will probably forget right after our graduation, our personality lasts
forever. Just as what Maya Angelou stated, people wont remember what you did, but they will
remember how you made them feel.

Slide 9
If we continue with the statement we established previously that a good personality is
equivalent to a good self-value, then what makes up a good personality? This question is
extremely controversial, as different people possess different personalities, therefore there
isnt a set criterion to judge whether ones personality is good or not.
Slide 10
But for me, a good personality consists of 3 main aspects and the first one is being honest to
ourselves and others as honesty is what makes us us. However, being honest is not as easy
as it seems, since it is not only about not telling lies. It is also about understanding our own
capabilities, accepting our weaknesses and being sincere to one another.

Slide 11: (personality)

Confidence is also a trait that makes up a good personality and thus increasing our self-value.
This is because people will only value themselves when they believe and are confident in
themselves. And according to Ellen DeGeneres, confidence is about feelings of well-being,
always displaying your best side for others to see, as well as accepting who you are.

Slide 12: (Personality)

Whilst having confidence is important, humility is also an indispensable trait when it comes to
a good personality, as it makes sure that we learn to accept our weaknesses and wont
overvalue ourselves, which prevents us from becoming ignorant and arrogant.

Slide 13:
Meanwhile, there are a lot of other traits which also contribute to a good personality. I
personally believe that the 3 traits I mentioned previously, wrapped up my own definition for a
good personality and I believe that if one can successfully develop the above 3 traits, he/she
already has a high self-value!

Slide 14: life goals

Another simple way to determine our self-value is to set up life goals. These goals are not the
simple goals we set every day. For example, completing my homework within an hour, getting
cheese fondue for dinner. Life goals are goals that we found meaningful and have a huge
desire to achieve. An example will be becoming your ideals.

Slide 15: life goals

Life goals help to determine our self-values because when we achieved something we have
always wanted to accomplish, we will become satisfied and our brain will release a substance
called dopamine, which make us feel that we have a high value and begin to treasure
ourselves.

Slide 16:
Okay, enough with the talking, why should you guys believe in my words anyway? Well,
because I am an Ib student, who devoted most of my time into studying TOK and humanities
and I used to be one of those students who measures my value based on my marks too!

Slide 17: (self-experience)

I used to believe that grades are a representation of my value, because assessments are
basically tests that evaluate our performances. Due to this thought, I was completely crazy
about scores. By crazy I mean that I will cry over a 6 or even a 7, simply because I felt I
wasnt good enough.

Slide 18: These depressing days didnt last long because I soon realized that my theory was
completely wrong, as not all the marks and assessments can represent who I am. For
example, failing Physical education wont necessarily affect our value, it only means that our
body coordination might not be as good as the athletes in our school!
Slide 19: (Self experience)
Failing subjects like technology wont lower our value either, it only suggests that electronics
are not your friend. In fact, failing subjects does not matter at all, as long you can achieve
your life goals and develop a good personality, then you already have a high self-value!

Slide 20: (Conclusion)

So.. should we still associate our value with our marks? This is a definite no, as I believe
that it will only lead to less self-worth and depression. As mentioned earlier, if we can stop
associating our marks with our value and learn to develop a good personality, as well as
meaningful goals, then a high self-value will follow.

This is the end of my presentation thank you!