It's freshman year of high school, and I'm sitting in third period, second row from the back with my two best friends on each side. We'd just had our first test of the semester and I'm feeling confident. Math isn't my best subject by a long shot, but I'd studied the sample questions and gone over my notes so many times I could probably recite the Pythagorean Theorem in my sleep. It wasn't until my teacher asked me to see her after class that I began to understand what it would mean. Fast forward five years. It's my freshman year of college. I'm sitting in a crowded testing room, 20 questions and a computer screen between me and an acceptable GPA. The years have done nothing but teach me to be OK with an outcome I used to be disappointed in.
According to society’s views on intelligence, I am below average.
When did our self-worth get reduced to a percentage? When did it become more important to memorize than to understand? Today's generation let themselves be defined by numbers rather than knowledge. Students of all ages are being labeled and judged based on statistics and figures that don't always represent them fairly. We get swept up in generalizations and assumptions by parents and teachers alike; mentalities that make it difficult to grow. The lower the grades drop, the higher the stakes become, and before you know it stress levels have skyrocketed. The obsession with maintaining the standards expected of us and keeping up with the image we feel that society expects from us has come to overshadow our needs as people. We've begun to focus more on what is wanted from us than focus on what we want for ourselves because, unfortunately, we've started to see ourselves as numbers too.
Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying that working hard for your grades is a bad thing, I am not saying that no one should try and get that ideal grade point average, and I am definitely not saying that there is always a deeper meaning to a bad outcome. I will be the first to admit that there have been many, many times where my 72 was a product of my own making. I didn't study in the time I should have and it showed. Getting an education will always require work, and effort and determination. I am an enormous advocate that nothing good in life comes easy. Yes, doing well in school should be rewarded. Yes, getting high scores on tests and assignments is important. And yes, you should always strive to be the best that you can be and put in the effort to move forward. But the number you see should never be more important than how you see yourself. If your best gets you a B, or a C or even a D it's not something to be ashamed of. If anything, if you studied and put in the hours and worked for the grade you got, despite it not being what's conventionally seen as a success, it's something to be proud of.
At the end of the day, where you are and who you are, and where you're going should always be the priority. Your future is in your hands, and it will be in your hands regardless of your GPA. We shouldn't be defined by what we can't control.
Albert Einstein once said, "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb, it will live its entire life believing it is stupid."
