Letters that spell out our future

The grades we receive in school have a profound impact on our future, starting before we enter high school and following us through university. Our grade point average affects the programs we’re eligible for at our current school (extracurricular clubs, sports, et cetera), the schools and graduate programs we can get into later in life and even our continued presence in these programs.

We’re constantly reminded of the importance of our GPA and what we can do if we maintain good grades. Yet many students still struggle and end up getting poor grades in their classes, or failing them all together. Does this reflect badly on the student or on the grading system that’s responsible for producing our GPAs?

Whether you like it or not, you’re directly responsible for your own future success. Going to class and turning in homework on time is a crucial part of this equation. Your ability to learn the material and do well on assignments and exams will generally determine your grade.

However, getting a high GPA isn’t necessarily reflective of how hard you worked or the knowledge that you already possessed about a particular subject.

You can know a lot about a topic and still be unable to write an essay on the impact of the French Revolution or remember in which year the Battle of Hastings occurred. Nevertheless, these abilities—writing, critical thinking and memorization—are generally what we’re tested on (since they are some of the only things that are really testable) and are what largely determine the grades we receive.

It’s true: Your grades are more reflective of your ability to test well than your general knowledge of a subject. So are schools actually encouraging students to learn, or simply teaching them how to answer exam questions?

For many people this question causes some discomfort, because after years of hard work and stress no one wants to admit that the time spent in school wasn’t worthwhile. You want a degree that proves useful and helps you to secure a successful job and future. Does knowing the year in which the Battle of Hastings was fought really increase your chances of getting a good job?

Frankly, it doesn’t. Unless you plan on continuing in education and becoming a teacher or professor or scholar, the exact details of a subject become less important. Rather, it’s the skills that you learned while discussing it that are important.

Thinking critically, solving problems, interpreting sources and writing down your thoughts in a clear and concise way are the skills that stay with you even after you’ve finished school and begun looking for a job.

While you may be in control of your success, your achievements in school also have a way of shaping your future. Being motivated to do well in school is key, but the ability to follow directions, get high marks and learn the skills required of you by your instructors is more important.

This might not seem fair. Some people acquire these skills naturally, barely working to get good grades, while others struggle, unable to achieve the outcomes that they believe they deserve.

It may not seem sensible, but that’s the system that schools have adopted to prepare students for the real world. You may not feel that you deserved a low score on a test or paper, but when you need to use these skills in your job you’ll be happy to be able to properly apply what you’ve learned outside of school.

Schools do encourage students to learn, though perhaps not in the traditional sense. Students are encouraged to learn lifelong skills—skills that go beyond the classroom and can be applied to real life.

Your GPA may not be a clear representation of your knowledge or reveal whether you can list all of the elements of the periodic table, but it does tell people that you know how to learn.

You now know the skills needed to do well in your adult life, and have the awareness to look at your surroundings differently and the ability to continue learning even after you have left school. So what, you never learned that the Battle of Hastings happened in 1066; you now have many practical skills that are useful beyond that one small fact.