My generation has grown up with the notion that school is everything and achieving a higher degree is borderline mandatory. College and graduate school have always been my next steps on the path to success, and I never even considered that they were just options for other people. My mom came to this country as an immigrant and ended up graduating with honors, getting her masters, and landing a successful government job, so as a first-generation American, I was expected to at least do the same educationally, and surpass her accomplishments. She loved learning and loved school, and considers college education to be a privilege, since in her home country it wasn’t as easily accessible as it is here. I grew up with school being my life focus, which led me to slightly resent the education system.

I have always been a strong supporter of the belief that grades shouldn’t be the main criteria on which you base your personal academic self-worth. You can probably correctly guess that I don’t get stellar grades. My grades are average, although I always try my best in all of my classes; I’m an awful test taker and the whole process of taking a test gives me anxiety. I’ve been laughed at and have been given the whole “you’re bad at proving what you learned” spiel, but it’s just how it is. For me, the way I can best express what I’ve learned is creatively and qualitatively, as opposed to quantitatively, which is one of the reasons I became an English major. Being an English major allows me to prove my knowledge through writing, not standardized tests.

School is about learning, though recently it’s become about learning how to standardize test well. If you can’t test well, your academic career inevitably becomes harder. I’ve always received grades that were slightly lower than my friends’, even though I studied the same, took the same notes, and paid attention the same way that they did. It used to make me feel bad, until I came to the realization that my papers were always graded better than theirs. I realized that my strength was writing and creativity, instead of multiple-choice questions, which utilizes the analytical portion of the brain. It explained a lot and proved to me that I do in fact learn, but my way is different. Going to a liberal arts college, where expression through creativity is encouraged, really helped me come to terms with my test-taking struggle, and helped me focus on the creative side.

The most important lesson I learned is that people like me, like to learn as much as everyone else, but unfortunately our grades do not correctly reflect our abilities and we our judged by today’s learning standards. Personally, I feel that learning is a life long process and as long as you’re continuously learning and keeping up with everything and participating, your grades shouldn’t be the only measure by which your academic identity is measured. If you’re engaged, interactive, and contribute in your class, clearly you understand the material, then the goal has been accomplished. Why does the grade you get need its stamp of approval? During a very difficult time, when I had given all I had and didn’t receive the high grades I felt I deserved, my mother told me that as long as I did my best, she was proud of me and those grades do not define, nor reflect who I am as a person. Recently, I read that certain colleges no longer require SAT scores; they’ve made them optional. It appears that academia is starting to catch on. I’m finishing two degrees in four years, therefore, by my standards my academic career has been a success. As a society, we need to redefine academic success and approach learning from different angles, allowing for different types of learning to capture accomplishment, as such empowering my generation and generations to come.