The Unspoken Side of grades

Have you ever felt that you want to walk along the shore, that your feet walk through the golden sand, feel the green water and pure air touch your porcelain skin; and suddenly, you feel like an insomniac lagoon with a jetty already without boats? That’s how I felt. At first, I was relaxed but when the teacher gave us homework, I no longer felt that way. First, let’s go from the beginning.

It was a beautiful day; the sky was blue like the sea and the sun’s rays lit up my room. The gangly green palm trees seemed to dance with happiness. Their emotion was just contagious.

I was sitting in my comfortable chair while on my laptop, and the only voice that could be heard was of my teacher’s. And abruptly… he announced to the class that we had to create and present a presentation. I no longer felt relaxed, I felt my belly starting to ache.

The day of presenting came and I felt my body tremble. My presentation finally ended. I felt crushed; my presentation hadn’t gone as I had expected.

Outside, the palm trees still swayed, yet I had lost that sense of calm. I just wanted to give up because I was afraid of doing poorly again in my presentation.

So, I spoke to my dad. We were both seated in the living room. While I told him about how I felt, tears flowed. He told me “never consider the possibility of giving up. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail but if you keep being strong and persevere, you are going to achieve your dream. Failure makes you resilient. You are intelligent Valentina, more than you think, and I would always be proud of you.” I was no longer a sad girl, I was now a person who was reflecting. And when reflecting, there was a question in my head that was spinning: what do I really value?

Let me explain. Last week, I had a conversation with my teacher and it was the first time where I made a distinction between grades and learning. We often think that these two are the same; however, they are not.

Going back to the presentations, I had the opportunity to present in the last month at least six times, and every time I presented, I’ve received feedback. What that has done, even though my grades have been low, is that it has helped me learn important skills such as designing meaningful slides and using an engaging voice. This is the difference between learning and grades. When you solely focus on learning, you can see how much you have grown over time but the process is slow. While in grades, you just focus on the number you get.

So, why is learning important? When you never stop learning, you will always remember that the journey is a series of mistakes and new starts that make you wiser and stronger each time. “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” — Tom Bodett.

I value my learning because when you learn you are going to fail and when failing, there is where you learn. Sometimes it can be tedious and hard at times, but when we are into learning we are bound to grow. I don’t go to school because I want to have the best grades. In fact, we should go to school to learn and to fail because you learn from failures, not from success. What do you really value?