Since grade school until the very last day of my high school life, I've always been an achiever. Like any other 'traditional' achievers, we always believe that grades measure one's intelligence. I'd do almost everything that would just make my grades high. I have never experience failure, until I entered college.
Life in the university was really difficult. Meeting new friends wasn't really that hard but meeting the demands and high standards of my professors was really excruciatingly hard. If there's one particular moment of my life that I would change, I'd definitely go back to the time when I made a promise to myself that my lowest grade should be 2.00. I'd probably tell my old self to straighten up your thoughts and be more open-minded!
In the first three semesters of my university life, I would always set high goals in all of my subjects - to have a grade of 1.00. I always did my best, really. I even made a sacrifice of not downloading and watching the latest episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Supernatural or The Big Bang Theory. I even tried not to watch the local news because I would always think that it's just a waste of time. Wrong move, dude. Even at weekends, I'm always stuck with loads of readings to review, books to read, problem sets to solve and laboratory reports to submit. What a bitter life you have, dude. Eventually I grew exhausted and became lazy weeks before the most dreaded week of the university - the finals week aka hell week. Sometimes I do not exert extra effort prior the finals week most especially if I already knew that I passed a certain subject. Basta matapos na ang lahat, matikman ko na ang inaasam kong freedom, which is the semestral break. Soon after, regrets would start to fill my subconscious mind. A lot of "what if" thoughts would invade my mind. What if I scored higher in my finals? My grade should have been 1.25 instead of 1.75. What if I got 100 in my first long exam? My GWA should have been 1.39000 instead of 1.46000.
In the end, I became dissatisfied and frustrated. Thus I changed my mentality... and I didn't regret it.
I just realized that what really matters the most is the experience and not just that mere numerical value. I just remembered when my BIO 140 (Evolutionary Biology) professor gave the results of our first long exam. Almost everyone in the class failed the exam, including me. I got a very low 25/100 for that particular exam. I just laughed about my result but deep inside, to tell you the truth, I was hurt. Imagine burning my eyebrows every night for two weeks for this exam and I only got that score. So for the subsequent exams, we exerted extra effort because at that point we already figured that our best was NOT good enough, well based from the standards of our professor. In the end, I got a grade 3.0. Pasang awa, yes, but I knew that I worked hard for it and I felt this genuine euphoria after I received my class card.
It doesn't mean that a student is already intelligent if he gets the highest grade or a student is dumb and indolent if he gets a grade of three, four or five. Every grade has different stories to tell. No, not excuses but real stories on how they suffered and made a lot of sacrifices.
Although I still try my best but I learned to become contented with all the results and outcome of my work. More so, I had a happier disposition in life. Although grades do play an important role in the life of students, they should realize that life shouldn't just revolve with these numerical values. Indeed, there's MORE TO LIFE than grades!
In the end, grades will never dictate of who you are. It should not steal your real identity.
Life in the university was really difficult. Meeting new friends wasn't really that hard but meeting the demands and high standards of my professors was really excruciatingly hard. If there's one particular moment of my life that I would change, I'd definitely go back to the time when I made a promise to myself that my lowest grade should be 2.00. I'd probably tell my old self to straighten up your thoughts and be more open-minded!
In the first three semesters of my university life, I would always set high goals in all of my subjects - to have a grade of 1.00. I always did my best, really. I even made a sacrifice of not downloading and watching the latest episodes of How I Met Your Mother, Supernatural or The Big Bang Theory. I even tried not to watch the local news because I would always think that it's just a waste of time. Wrong move, dude. Even at weekends, I'm always stuck with loads of readings to review, books to read, problem sets to solve and laboratory reports to submit. What a bitter life you have, dude. Eventually I grew exhausted and became lazy weeks before the most dreaded week of the university - the finals week aka hell week. Sometimes I do not exert extra effort prior the finals week most especially if I already knew that I passed a certain subject. Basta matapos na ang lahat, matikman ko na ang inaasam kong freedom, which is the semestral break. Soon after, regrets would start to fill my subconscious mind. A lot of "what if" thoughts would invade my mind. What if I scored higher in my finals? My grade should have been 1.25 instead of 1.75. What if I got 100 in my first long exam? My GWA should have been 1.39000 instead of 1.46000.
In the end, I became dissatisfied and frustrated. Thus I changed my mentality... and I didn't regret it.
I just realized that what really matters the most is the experience and not just that mere numerical value. I just remembered when my BIO 140 (Evolutionary Biology) professor gave the results of our first long exam. Almost everyone in the class failed the exam, including me. I got a very low 25/100 for that particular exam. I just laughed about my result but deep inside, to tell you the truth, I was hurt. Imagine burning my eyebrows every night for two weeks for this exam and I only got that score. So for the subsequent exams, we exerted extra effort because at that point we already figured that our best was NOT good enough, well based from the standards of our professor. In the end, I got a grade 3.0. Pasang awa, yes, but I knew that I worked hard for it and I felt this genuine euphoria after I received my class card.
It doesn't mean that a student is already intelligent if he gets the highest grade or a student is dumb and indolent if he gets a grade of three, four or five. Every grade has different stories to tell. No, not excuses but real stories on how they suffered and made a lot of sacrifices.
Although I still try my best but I learned to become contented with all the results and outcome of my work. More so, I had a happier disposition in life. Although grades do play an important role in the life of students, they should realize that life shouldn't just revolve with these numerical values. Indeed, there's MORE TO LIFE than grades!
In the end, grades will never dictate of who you are. It should not steal your real identity.
"Grades are not the soul measure of the competence of the student." ---(I forgot the name of the speaker. Haha)
ReplyDelete"Every grade has different stories to tell." How true!
ReplyDeleteHi renz, that's very true, grades are but a number. The more years you spend outside of school, the more those numbers won't matter. Study hard, yes, but don't forget to enjoy your life while you are at that phase. So seize the day,have more friends, make more memories, those are the things that will last. :) - from someone who used to be a geek too lol
ReplyDeletefunny, i learned the essence of studying and tried hard when i started college . lol
ReplyDeletewas always busy with extra-co activities in hs .
Super nakakarelate. I also considered myself an achiever but when I reached 4th year, tinamad na ewan. Lakas ng loob ko 'non umabsent..hehe.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog btw!