As a college student, I have become familiar with the daily struggles forcing myself out of bed, trudging along the crowded sidewalks with other drowsy, crusty-eyed twenty-somethings trying to get our endless list of assignments and exams finished, hoping for at least a “C.” However, a common goal in college is to achieve the golden honor of getting a 4.0 GPA. This begs the question: why is having such a high GPA so important?
For one, our professors and advisers ingrain it into our heads that if we don’t have a 4.0, we’re less likely to earn our desired jobs. As an education major, this is scary to me because my future career options are often limited and flooding with possible applicants. Not only that, we are often made to feel inferior or unintelligent. My adviser was always very helpful when helping me choose classes; however, I often left his office feeling like I didn’t belong in college because I didn’t get the grades he thought I should have.
Another reason it is “important” to have a flawless GPA is because we need to uphold the reputations of our colleges and universities. If we could make it through high school and make it through the application process to get into college, then we should be able to maneuver through college without any problems, right? Wrong!
I refuse to deny the importance of grades. They show what we know. They show what we have learned. They show what we need to continue working on; however, GRADES ARE NOT EVERYTHING! In an age of meeting standards, studying for “the tests,” and flying through instruction to just to touch on the next lesson, we are forgetting the true meaning of what it means to fail. When we hear the word “fail,” we think of low scores, disappointed authority figures, depression, anxiety, etc. Instead of looking at failure the way we do now, we need view failing as acceptable. Not only is “fail” a word, it is also an acronym. “Fail” stands for “FIRST ATTEMPT AT LEARNING.
We often get so beat up when we receive low marks or we just give up on ourselves because “what’s the point,” but it is okay to not be perfect. It is okay to not have a 4.0, or even a 3.0. What’s important is that we are learning and gaining new experiences, what college is supposed to be all about. College is a time of experimentation. College is a time where it is acceptable to change your major because your current one is too stressful or not your cup of tea. College is the time to join clubs and interact with new people.
What our advisers and professors sometimes forget is that - yes, employers like to see higher marks on your transcript, but no, that it is not all they want to see. They want to see what experiences students have gained from school, and some of those experiences can not be learned in a classroom. They want to see students take initiative to learn things on our own and develop our own ideas and theories, participating in internships, interacting within the community, participating in sports, music, clubs and other activities. When my adviser was stressing the importance of my grades, he never thought once to ask me what I was doing in my spare time, what I was doing when I was not in class or studying. If he would have, he would have known that I was in several different clubs, doing community service, and participating in a music-based activity.
Another thing that is more important than maintaining a high GPA is making sure you're taking care of yourself first. Your mental health is more important than a grade. "Stress is temporary, GPA is forever" is a phrase that many students are familiar with, especially around midterms and finals; however, stress can lead to more troublesome issues like weight fluctuations, problems sleeping, agitation, isolation, etc. Who wants to go through all of that? I sure don't, and I can't imagine others wanting that either. A little stress is healthy, and challenging ourselves strengthens our brains, but putting so much energy into trying to get the perfect grade, only to want to rip your hair out, is not healthy. It is possible to achieve both. We can study hard to get the grades we want, as long as we take the time to relax and recuperate our bodies and mind.
It can be a hard concept to conquer sometimes, that grades aren’t everything. It took some time for that to sink in for me, and sometimes I still find myself stressing out. If there are two things that I learned through this, it is that with patience,we can get our desired results. Be patient and work hard, and eventually you’ll get that grade you deserve, even if it’s not perfect, but in the end, I know I’m gaining experiences that will not only stick out to employers, but they’re making me happy, and that’s what’s important.
