The Measure of Success

I think one of the many reasons I love going to an institute of higher learning is the majority of professors care more about your understanding and mastery of a topic than your actually grades reflect.

Sadly, we live in this world currently where grades are the measure of success and I can vividly recall from my Senior Year alone, 12 separate instances where the teachers neglected teaching because we "didn't need that for the test" or because it was "a lot of effort" to go over.

Maybe it's the fact that my parents are dishing out loads of money to send me to school and because of that, I feel a greater responsibility and obligation to do my work and achieve my very best.

But I attend a university where people constantly brag about how low they failed because the school is just that difficult. I tend to disagree and point to their poor work ethic and decision to study at the last minute; however, it really does something to you when you put in a good amount of effort to study and you don't get the grade you had hoped.

Does that mean I'm just stupid? That I can't take in the information they want me to and that I'm destined to be a garbage man? LOL no. Ew I couldn't deal with that smell all day. Stop. Focus.

It just means it's a harder school. And the worst part is, everyone is just like you, trying to do their best. What REALLY sucks is when you put in more effort than the girl next to you and she ends up with a grade 10 points higher. Also the fact that you are below the average.

How is that possible?? You studied your ass off, probably twice or three times as much as some of these dilweeds, yet you still came out on the bottom. You know what, so what? Life moves on. A grade doesn't define yourself worth and it doesn't define your character.

I loved this quote my Calculus teacher told us about failure, by Samuel Beckett.

"Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No Matter.
Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better."

I. LOVE THAT.
It says so much in so little.
It's like okay you failed. But don't get yourself down. Keep going. And if/when this happens again, you
ll be even more prepared to deal with the reactions.

So what do you do? You find a study buddy. You reflect on how you studied, where you studied, and what you studied. You try and make some change to how you went about doing so. And then you ace the next MF-er to silently showcase how smart/talented/awesome you really are.

The other tough part about coming to a university where the median SAT score was well above a 2000 is the fact that these people have these false-sense of entitlement. They feel like with their brain power and lack of coherent social skills, that everything is theres for the taking. And that isn' from my pessimistic outlook; this is me saying that these people LITERALLY think that these positions are theres and anyone who interferes is wrong.

And with that sense of this entitlement comes their love and admiration to brag about how smart and successful they are. Uhm excuse me? Just because you got a higher grade on a test that I studied three times as much for doesn't mean you're smarter.

Success isn't about getting an A, it's about how you deal with getting an F.

I'd like to think I cope quite nicely. You, however, probably cry home to your mother or yell blasphemy at the poor TA who was forced to grade your test. Please, go home and get over yourself. You're not that special if you can't find fault in yourself.


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