Grades came out yesterday. You'd think that this was the greatest catastrophy to ever happen to this planet.
I came here expecting terrible grades my first quarter... Hell, even my first semester. Let's be real. How well can you actually keep your brain and academic life together when you're trying to grapple a new country, new city, new home, new family, new language, new friends, and new life? You can't. I don't buy the "perfect adjustment" façad I see in some people. It's simply impossible. I like to watch people freak out about homework, tests, grades, essays... It's almost a little bit comical to me.
I am not the most serious student in the world. I've had my fair share of mental breakdowns when my less-than-attentive studying habits seem to reflect themselves in my grades. But I've also had more than plenty, "eh, a D? Whatever," moments. I don't see consistancy and importance in grades. I never have. They're letters that teachers give you based on your academic intelligence, and I am a firm believer in the notion that grades do not define intelligence. Everyone is intelligent in one matter or another, and it isn't fair to try and define a person by their ability to memorize information and spit it up in a few paragraphs.
Many kids here in my school come from very academic, prestigious, intelligent boarding and private schools. They apply, get accepted, and go to these schools for academic excellence, and it shows in their habits. They're the ones religiously studying for tests, diligently doing their homework to the perfect degree, fighting a grade that a teacher has given them... It's in their blood. It's what they know, and I really do admire them for their dedication to their academics.
However, as I said before, you'd think that this quarter was the end of the world. No one is happy. Everyone is complaining about their grades. Some more harshly than others, I will admit. I just don't feel like people understand the fact that we're living an entirely new life. Academics aren't going to be the first thing that excell when you move accross the world to another country. You're adjusting to an entirely new life, your brain takes a toll... Everyone is so harsh on themselves, and it makes me sad. Maybe these are just my liberal academic feelings speaking, but I feel like people are too hard on themselves. Not everything has to be completely perfect when it comes to our situations. Why can't people look at the other things that they've accomplished (like surviving France for two months in an entirely new family?????) and recognize that no matter what their grades say, they're a fantastic, intelligent, above average person?
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