the straight-A student

I am now going to write about a subject that I’ve been thinking about writing for months now…..the subject being: the straight A student.

I loved this entry I just found while researching this subject on the internet—Beware the straight-A student

This is actually a subject I’ve thought a lot about over the years but its most recently come into play because I have 37 classmates in grad school. And I would wager to bet that a good 25-30 of them are straight A students. I’ve never seen anything like it. Or actually, maybe I never paid attention before. I, of course, grew up grade-less. Being home-schooled we didn’t really use a “grading” system per say. We just learned. And yes, we did take some “tests” as I re-call but I remember never even really knowing if they were graded or what grades even were until I went to college.

In college I still don’t remember grades being discussed a lot. I remember that I always had good grades—A’s and B’s. but I remember the friends I hung out with were elated to be making C’s. a B was a huge deal. In fact, I think at that time in my life, I was making the “good grades”. People used to tell me how smart I was because I had a few A’s on tests or spoke up a lot in class (which they equated to being “smart”). I thought this was bizarre—that you would base a person’s “smartness” on what letter grade they got on a test.

The reason I was baffled was this—a test (especially in our educational system) is nothing more than a regurgitation of the material presented in class. The only thing a test measures is your ability to take the test.

Most tests are multiple choice; most tests require very little thinking skill; most tests are carbon copies of information from your notes that are displayed in a different sentence form.

When I realized that a person’s IQ has little or nothing to do at all with what particular grades a person makes, it completely lost any (which wasn’t much to begin with) merit with me.

I’m a pretty bright girl. I have routinely tested very high on IQ scores. I am also a very social/fun girl and am involved in too many activities to list right now. I have high self-esteem, know which battles to pick, and have healthy relationships with people in my life.

I don’t need an A to prove any of that.

All an A means to me is that I’ve spent hours trying to either memorize my notes or figure out how the professor tests (or both). and after the test, I can’t tell you what that test was about anymore than the man in the moon (I love that expression, by the way).

My self-worth is not determined by my grades.

My intelligence level is not determined by my grades.

My life does not revolve around what grades I make.

I’ve been thinking about this because I’ve felt so much pressure to make good grades since being in grad school. We do have to maintain a 3.0 to stay in the program (which is a B average) but I think one of the main reasons I’ve been so concerned is because my classmates are. Most of them really do have to make A’s. Or they feel like they do. I don’t think they realize that a B or, heaven forbid, a C (gasp) is NOT going to kill them. In fact, it might be good for most of them.

This is one of the reasons I have always vowed to never be a straight A student:

 (I think there are only 2 semesters out of my entire schooling career that I made a 4.0—and they were long ago)

I am not perfect--in any shape or form. I am very human. This is one of the reasons people relate to me so much—for my “human-ness”. I fall a lot. I also get back up a lot. I love being dirty. I love being vulgar. I love challenging the status quo. I am very unconcerned with what others think of me.

To me, the person who *must* make straight A’s is compensating because they have low self-esteem; they are people pleasers; entirely too hard on themselves; caught up in perfectionism; are basing their self-worth and their “smartness” on that A….etc.

New Flash: I’ve known some pretty stupid people who have been straight A-ers.

Now, if you are reading this and you are a straight A student, take heart—I’m in no way saying that there is something wrong with you. Perhaps you are one of the few people that are genuinely bright when it comes to figuring out our education system. Maybe you don’t study a lot—maybe you are more of an auditory learner and can retain everything you hear; maybe you have a photographic memory—the possibilities are endless.

Maybe you make all A’s because you want your parents to be proud of you. Maybe they made you feel “less-than” when you came home as a child with a report card that had one too many B’s on it.

Maybe you make all A’s because you think other people will think you’re smart. Or maybe it’s to convince yourself that you are smart.

And let’s not forget that it is always important to do your best. It’s important to try. It’s important to want to do your best—but hey, in my world, B’s are for BEST.

And let’s also not forget that I’m saying this is an excuse for you to not study for your next test and become apathetic about your grades.

I’m just saying that it’s OKAY to make a B. and a C. and even a D-- unless you are in a program like mine that requires you to make above a certain GPA.

You are human, whether you like it or not.

You’ll make a lot of mistakes.

You’ll do things you always swore to yourself that you’d never do.

You’ll find out you are much more capable than you thought you were.

You’ll realize, one day, that grades don’t really matter.

People do.

Your relationship to your school should be secondary to your relationship to your community.

The community will still be here in 10 years.

Your grades---not so much.

Celebrate your human-ness.

Make a B for cyin’ out loud!

I dare you.

If you are one of the 4.0 people I’m talking about—go out there and make a B. See what happens. I think you’ll be delightfully surprised. And I even think some of that stress in your shoulders will let out a sigh.

It’s good for us when we show that we are human; that we are not God (contrary to popular belief); and that it’s okay not to know the answer.

As for me—I’m enjoying this semester more and here is a picture of my mid-term grades….

And guess what?

I could not be more pleased.

In fact, for me…these are good grades and I intend on celebrating them on Spring Break next week.

In other news, isn’t this weather amazing?

Spring is just about here and my heart and soul could not be more alive.

I snapped this shot this morning after my run. I love daffodils.