Speaking from the other side of the grade war, as a student, I adored my 9th grade algebra teacher. She gave certificates of achievement to everyone in her classes who made a C or better. She gave us this big pep talk at the end of the year, explaining that if you got a C in her class, that meant you had worked hard, mastered the material in a very satisfactory way, and were capable of learning any future level of math that might be required. I can attest that I worked very hard for my B in algebra, learned scads of good study habits because of how that teacher required us to do the work, and gained enormous confidence in myself.
I have long known as a student that a hard-won C often means more than an easy A.
I have long known as a student that a hard-won C often means more than an easy A.
This. College was a rude shock to me, that my professors didn't just see how brilliant I was and hand me the A's I was used to and never had to work for before. It didn't take me long to get up to snuff, but it actually ended up making all those A's I got in high school feel like I cheated somehow and that I never actually deserved them.
College was a rude shock to me, that my professors didn't just see how brilliant I was and hand me the A's I was used to and never had to work for before.
College was actually easier for me gradeswise than high school, for the most part. Grad school was the easiest by far. But good grades weren't really the point there.
But good grades weren't really the point there.
I think that was the problem for me. I started doubting that I'd really learned anything in high school. I knew, even with a B in college, that I had worked for it and had to really learn how to put all the information given to me into a useful context and not rely on sheer memorization of facts.
SailAweigh is me. Straight A's without a single bit of homework all through high school. College was quite the shock. Being 17 at the time didn't help either.
grades? We were being graded? I was hanging out in the student center with the leftists.
Laga, I was at the University of Oregon. We were all leftists.
My college didn't have grades. Also, it felt like an intellectual regression from my IB classes for the first year. And with no grades, where the hell was the fun in competing with your friends to see who did better and could in-your-face it?
To this day, I have no idea why everyone thought Evergreen was such a great school for me. I tried explaining that I need a structure to rebel against and lines to skirt outside, but did anyone listen to me? Nooooooooooo.
Eh. At least I don't have loan debt. And I got a husband and eventually, a great kid, out of it.
