The Grades Challenge
Freshman year was a difficult year for my grades. I was failing a few classes and it seemed like the harder I focused on the percentage, the farther I got away from it. I talked to my teachers about how I could try to get my grades up and was simply told “you won’t get a better grade.” I was stuck with what I had is what I was told, and they ended up being right about that year. I was worried that maybe something was wrong; maybe I wasn’t as smart as I used to be.
I remember how bad it felt thinking that I had lost what I used to have; I used to be a an honors student who didn’t have to try. There I was trying, and failing, for the first time in my life. Being raised off of “failure is unacceptable” made this experience concerning for me in a way most things couldn’t. Not only was I worried about my GPA, but how my father would react to the forbidden grades I had received. Being told I should have no hope to improve by one of my teachers made things so much worse. It took a semester of sophomore year for me to realize what I was doing to myself, why I was failing.
I had realized …show more content…
My grades have gone up, and so has my attitude towards school. This rebirth of intelligence taught me that school is not about your grade as much as it is your work. The grade is an after effect of the work you do. It taught me not only to stop focusing on my grades and do my work; but that in life you should not focus so much on the reward, but the work you have to do to get there. I no longer act on “What do I get out of this,” but “What work do I have to do to achieve this.” My Biology teacher from Freshman year once told me I would not improve at all, not even five percentage points, and now I can be content with the fact that not only was she incorrect about my grades; she was wrong to be doubtful of me. Not only have I improved my grades, I have improved my
Freshman year was a difficult year for my grades. I was failing a few classes and it seemed like the harder I focused on the percentage, the farther I got away from it. I talked to my teachers about how I could try to get my grades up and was simply told “you won’t get a better grade.” I was stuck with what I had is what I was told, and they ended up being right about that year. I was worried that maybe something was wrong; maybe I wasn’t as smart as I used to be.
I remember how bad it felt thinking that I had lost what I used to have; I used to be a an honors student who didn’t have to try. There I was trying, and failing, for the first time in my life. Being raised off of “failure is unacceptable” made this experience concerning for me in a way most things couldn’t. Not only was I worried about my GPA, but how my father would react to the forbidden grades I had received. Being told I should have no hope to improve by one of my teachers made things so much worse. It took a semester of sophomore year for me to realize what I was doing to myself, why I was failing.
I had realized …show more content…
My grades have gone up, and so has my attitude towards school. This rebirth of intelligence taught me that school is not about your grade as much as it is your work. The grade is an after effect of the work you do. It taught me not only to stop focusing on my grades and do my work; but that in life you should not focus so much on the reward, but the work you have to do to get there. I no longer act on “What do I get out of this,” but “What work do I have to do to achieve this.” My Biology teacher from Freshman year once told me I would not improve at all, not even five percentage points, and now I can be content with the fact that not only was she incorrect about my grades; she was wrong to be doubtful of me. Not only have I improved my grades, I have improved my