Why is it that a simple letter from the alphabet determines our whole future? Why is it that a single letter has the power to make us or break us within the split of a second?
Always having been a straight A student, I never realized how much of an impact grades have on a person’s life. My whole life, it was just the normal thing to receive A’s because of how I was raised.
When I was a young girl, receiving 80s were bad in my mom’s book and a 95 on an exam triggered the question, “What happened to the other 5 points?”
Looking back at my childhood, yes grades have always meant a great deal to my mom, but because it was drilled into me at such a young age, I never gave it much thought until I reached college.
I came into college and immediately proclaimed myself a chemistry major and soon enough began to feel the pressure. I thought college would be like high school.
I would be able to keep doing exactly what I always had and would get the A’s I have always been used to getting. You can guess that is not what happened at all.
Growing up I never had to study or try too hard. Whatever I learned at a lesson just stuck and when the exam came I just knew it.
College, however, has not been that way at all. I am currently a junior and I still have a difficult time studying for my exams, not necessarily because the material is too difficult, but because I do not know how to study to begin with. I have tried study guides, flash cards, memorization, and practice problems, and nothing works.
I have a decent GPA and certainly am not failing any classes, but those straight A’s do not exist any longer. They have become a melting pot with B’s.
Now my question is, why is it that this is affecting me so much?
Like plenty of other college students, this mixture of A’s and B’s is killing me, and I do not understand why. The purpose of college is to receive the education we need to graduate and go into the world with the skills needed to be hired and be productive citizens in this world.
So why is it that it matters so much whether we got an A, B or even a C in a class we sat in and listened? In my opinion, the hands-on experience is what truly matters.
If we can perform all our job requirements with ease and excellence, why is it that the discrepancy of a professor affects us so heavily how we feel about ourselves?
I’m still not too successful at it, but I am slowly getting to the stage in my life where a light bulb is lit and the realization the “Cs get degrees,” is coming more and more alive.
Now don’t think I get C’s, because I don’t, but the point of that saying is that, as I’m often told, at the end of the day it does not matter what your letter grade was.
As long as I put my all into these classes and the best I receive is a C, then so be it.
Once you graduate all that will matter is the diploma hanging from your wall and the skills you obtained that will serve your future employee.
PHOTO TAKEN from mhprep.com
