When Numbers Take a Toll
All around the world, students and their families are experiencing the hardships of the road to college. Especially during the past decade, there has been a rise in the importance of being accepted into the top institutions, by getting high-caliber grades, participating in a multitude of extracurriculars and having a tumultuous past to reminisce about in an admissions essay or two. Of course this is not to demean the hardships of previous generations of students, but times have most definitely changed. For better or for worse? That is the question.
During this past Wednesday’s advisee meeting, my advisory group spoke about possible ways to take part in the rigorous academic culture at Exeter while somehow decreasing the amount of stress that comes along with the participation. The possibility of amending the school’s grading system was brought up as a viable solution. According to the proposal, students would recieve comments on hand-ins or tests from the teacher but never have a letter grade for a class until the end of the term. At the end of a semester, the student would write down what letter grade they feel they deserve. If the reasoning was sufficient, the teacher would grant that letter grade. Another student suggested that instead of receiving a vague mark such as a B/B+, the teacher could give an exact number to the assignment such as an 87 percent or 84 percent. Of course, extra commentary on why a student received that particular number would be appreciated in order for the student to understand the teacher’s reasoning.
These two comments got me thinking: what power have numbers come to have on our lives? Do numbers even deserve to have such jurisdiction over our lives? When you think about it, every individual has been limited by the triviality of digits. Throughout history, societies and nations have structured class systems based off of the numbers. The number of zeros in a checkbook somehow has come to indicate an individual’s capabilities of surviving in a corporate world, instead of the their sense of morale or their charismatic personalities. Numbers on three or four muted beige papers have come to represent the capabilities, or rather the insufficiencies, of a student. The difference of a few digits in a height or a weight have become representative of a widely accepted standard of what “beauty” constitutes. Are all of these examples simply inevitable results of humanity trying to civilize itself? Possibly. But needless to say, numbers have become an alarming problem.
Every student has or will soon have that moment when they think: how important are my grades? Why am I even in school? Do I really need all of the knowledge that my classes are apparently enlightening me with? Throughout our lives, we’ve had the mantra drilled into our heads: get a high GPA, take part in extracurriculars, get into the best schools in the country, get a “good” job, earn a lot of money, get married and support our parents during their retirement. No matter what cultural or racial background someone is from, they will have heard some variation of this check-list to finish before the day they die.
Interestingly enough, our grades are not what necessarily guarantee that call or email from an employer saying “congratulations”—it is our social and networking abilities. GPAs are not the main factor in guaranteeing success after twenty years of all-nighters, scribbling in notebooks and boxing of number two pencils. Grades are a motivator and provide a gauge of your personal understanding of a subject. It is unfortunate that grades have come to represent an individual’s supposed intelligence, but we must keep in mind that intelligence is not only applicable to the skill of memorizing and performing well on a test. Intelligence is translatory to a multitude of fields and skill sets, such as the ability to lead or build relationships within a work environment.
It is admittedly difficult to try and convince myself that my GPA or my grade on a test is not what determines my societal standing or rank among peers, especially during a time when everything seems to be for the ultimate goal of being able to go to college. It is understandable for any student to feel that it is obligatory to get that A in order to somehow make up for their lackadaisical financial and family background—I can even admit to having those moments. However in an environment such as Exeter, we have to realize that there are going to be other reasons besides an insufficient amount of brain cells that leads to a less than satisfactory grade. There are going to be the students who choose to be involved in a ridiculous amount of clubs and organizations and have a lower GPA than the students who decide to only focus on their grades. Neither personalities should ever be rebuked for their lifestyles because whichever decisions they make in their educational career, every student will find success in his or her own way.
Perhaps it is stereotypical or cheesy for me to write this—yes, that is highly feasible. But, this is a mentality we must make sure to promote in our school and throughout our households. We have four years in high school, four years to make the supposedly most memorable moments of our lives. Four years to make the pivotal decisions that are always depicted in the blockbusters and novels. So make the best of those four years, make those memories, and don’t let those numbers take a toll.