It might be hard to believe, but last semester I was actually a little bit sad when I got an A in one of my classes. This teacher was notoriously hard and I had taken one of the professor's classes before and gotten a B. I was so determined to get an A in this class, that I really pushed myself to hand in quality work. I went above and beyond what was really called for in the class. I went to office hours every week, I spent lots of time on readings and homework, and I just really strived to do well. And for all that hard work, I got an A.
You might be thinking that I am a little (a lot) crazy for being even a little bit upset about this, but I think that I have a pretty solid reasoning. I just felt that now that I had finally achieved an A in this class, that there was really nowhere for me to go. There was no more progress to be made so that I could get a better grade even though I know that there were things that I could have done better.
All that I am saying is that sometimes it is annoying to look across a room and see people getting the same grades as you when you know that you worked harder than them. And that is not to say that I do not think that I deserved an A. It just means that when it is so easy to get, does it really mean anything? Of course you can graduate without getting straight As, but I am not worried about those people. I am worried about the people who get the same grades as me and don't work nearly as hard. I am worried about teachers who are easy graders and make everyone's work the same. And I am worried that I am going to head out into the world unprepared because I thought that my work was good enough when really, I just wasn't being pushed hard enough.
When I graduate, I want my degree to actually mean something. I want to be able to look out over all the other kids graduating in my class and know that we all worked really hard to be there. To me, there is no worse feeling than being elated about a good grade on a test or class, whether a good grade for you is an A or a C, and seeing the person next to you who sleeps through every class and never hands anything in got the same grade. This is just some food for thought for the next time that you get an A. Of course, you will be relieved and excited, but try to think about whether or not that A really means something to you or if it is just a letter on a piece of paper. And don't be afraid to feel proud of yourself if you really did work for it.
