Thoughts on grades (aka this started off as something else and turned into a much lengthier post but what else can we expect from me)

academla:

One last thing. The other day my friend said something about PTK. I was like “oh! I thought I was gonna be in that cause I have a 4.0 but idk what happened.” She said I probably don’t have enough credits yet, which is fine.

Then she’s like “bragging isn’t gonna help” and I was like “what? I was told that if you had above a certain GPA then you were admitted into it, so I was just saying that I hadn’t gotten an invitation when I thought I would have” and she’s like “seriously stop bragging” and then said it seemed inappropriate of me to talk about my grades.

This irks me a lot. Because I clearly wasn’t bragging; I was stating a fact. More than that, when have grades become a taboo subject akin to money? The thing is, if we make grades this huge secretive deal, it gives them that much more power. If we hide and whisper and tiptoe around a silly number, is that gonna help or hurt all the students already fighting against letting numbers define them?

I don’t brag. I’ll tell a good friend if I got a good grade and I’ll post about it, sure. But I state facts; I don’t say “LOL guys I’m so good at school I’m so smart I’m amazing.” I won’t tell a classmate what I got on a test unless they ask, and I’ve always felt slightly ashamed or embarrassed to tell them that I did well.

Also. It’s not like I sit around eating bonbons and BAM! instant 4.0. YOU all know how hard I’ve fought and worked to get to where I am mentally and emotionally and academically. So to hem and haw and be reticent just doesn’t sit right with me.

Don’t shame people for being good students, or for being bad students. It isn’t bragging to mention your grades. Yeah, don’t make a billboard of your transcript for all to see, but don’t treat these numbers and letters like they’re an inherent part of you to be covered up.

Don’t let others accuse you of bragging if you’re simply saying “I got an A in that class” or “I have a 4.0” in response to a question or conversation. Don’t let them make you feel bad for not having perfect grades, and remember that just because you get a certain grade doesn’t mean you’re more or less of anything.

(Let’s all remember that I’ve gotten a 66 before, as well as 70s here and there. It happens. It doesn’t make me stupid or lesser.)

In the end, they’re just grades, just ink on paper and pixels on a screen that bear negligent weight in your ultimate sense of happiness and self-defined success. Be proud of who you are and the work you’ve done to get there.