In college, professors push on us how important our exam scores are. Our advisors talk all about our GPAs and class rank. I mean, don't you want to be summa cum laude?

College students are already pretty stressed, but telling us that the only thing that matters is our grades?

That is detrimental.

Just go ahead and try to put yourself in our shoes. Imagine working all day, every day, all night, every night on your learning. You don't get breaks except to shower, throw food into your mouth, and attempt to sleep. You're tired, you want to just sit and relax, but you can't, because you need to memorize over 400 slides of notes for one exam. And you don't have just one exam.

It's a constant panic.

You're up at night, wondering if you really have time to go to sleep rather than studying, while your eyes are so heavy that it burns to keep them open. But you need to study. You have to study. You can do nothing but study. Study. Study. Study!

There is nothing that is more important than your GPA.

You have to be the best. If you're not the best, you're not going to get hired. If you think that anything other than school is what is important in life, you are going to fail out. You have to be amazing or you're not going to get any scholarships. And if you don't have scholarships, you're going to be even more in debt.

And let's talk about that debt.

You claim to us and push us to think that the only way we can survive is a college degree, but then you make it nearly impossible to pay for. Thousands of dollars for one class. If you go to a community college, your degree isn't really "valid," even though it's the same degree that you would get somewhere else that would cost you so much more.

But without a college degree, you're going to be completely homeless.

I mean, it's not like there are thousands of trade jobs just sitting and waiting for someone else to come take it on. It's not like trade jobs provide good jobs for people with good benefits and strong unions. It's not like hundreds of thousands of people that have trade job live safe, healthy, and comfortable lives.

But alas, we are completely defined by that one exam grade.

But we're not.

We are so much more than a grade on a piece of paper. We are so much more than our GPA. We are so much more than just a number in a college roster. We are strong people with brilliant minds and powerful voices. We are human beings that want to feel loved and safe.

You are not a grade on a paper.

You are amazing.