In my generation, I have seen many people strive for high grades. Getting A’s, rather than fully understanding concepts, is more important to us millennials. Though I can’t speak for everyone, I believe that this is a big problem in our generation.

I am one of those people who places grades as my first priority and understanding concepts second. Not by choice. Though I thoroughly believe that concepts are crucial to understanding, our society values grades in a system that teaches by a curriculum that can be difficult to follow.

Being academically comfortable is challenging when you add anxiety and a struggle with focusing. It makes it difficult to fully succeed in a Western-based school, especially quarter systems. How so? Those two struggles can play an immense impact on how one does in a short system filled with many responsibilities, making it rather difficult to keep up with.

I believe that understanding concept depth is very important. However, I personally do not have the ability to go into depth and fully understand concepts when I am still comprehending chapter 2 as the teacher moves the class on to chapter 3. Though I’m not fully sure on what a better system would look like, I do know that the amount of expectation and the lack of class time do not help us learn as efficiently. In my opinion, I believe that less homework but more class time with teachers would be more effective, as well as talking to each other instead of being talked at the majority of the time.

Quarter systems are shorter than semesters. Yes, we do get the opportunity to take less classes than semesters, but I believe that our 10-week quarter system is not effective in allowing students to fully understand materials. I took Calculus 1 and Calculus 2 in two separate quarters, meaning I was expected to master Single-Variable Calculus in a matter of 20 weeks.

Understandably, existing systems need to follow a set of rules in order to function efficiently. You need to learn all the topics in a prerequisite class so you can understand the following classes. And if you weren’t taught something in your last class that you’re expected to know, you’re just going to have to self-teach yourself material that you weren’t taught yet.

When you study to get a good grade, and only half-learn the concept, it is safe to assume you will probably forget it. Our society pushes us to study well and go to good schools so we can get jobs we like. However, we are treated like children until we are 18 and then forced to become adults when we go off into college, barely knowing who we are and expected to know what we want to do with our life.

We put so much money, time, and effort just to hopefully understand what we are studying to do in life. I’m in my senior year of college, and I can barely tell you what I have learned. It’s not because I didn’t study, because I did. I dedicated myself. But the hands-on experience I have had outside of school greatly outweighs what I was taught in school.

I’m not saying that teachers are bad — they’re not. They’re great. They’re passing on knowledge that they have learned and being leaders. But I hope that one day, curriculums will change. Hopefully, a new curriculum will show students that the process of learning and understanding is far more rewarding than receiving an A on a transcript.