The #1 thing I’ve learned about school

Today, I want to share with you the #1 thing I’ve learned about school, and that is to not get too happy or sad about grades.

As students, we’re conditioned to believe that our grades define us. We strive for the perfect GPA, hoping that it will lead us to success in our future careers. But the truth is, grades are not all that matters. In fact, placing too much importance on grades can be harmful to our mental health, self-confidence, and overall well-being.

Especially when you are in a situation where you constantly have exams, you cannot afford to get too upset with yourself after doing poorly on an exam, because this mindset will negatively impact your performance on future exams.

Being in dental school, I would get ecstatic over an A, and devastated over a B or C. It was as if my worth as a student and human being was dangling on a string; determined solely by the letter grade on my report card. But as I progressed through school, I realized that grades are just a small part of the bigger picture.

Sure, good grades can open doors and provide opportunities, but they’re not everything. There are many other factors that contribute to success, such as hard work, dedication, and perseverance. And sometimes, even if we do everything “right,” we may not get the grades we want, and that’s okay.

What’s important is that we don’t allow grades to define us or dictate our happiness. It’s easy to get caught up in the cycle of studying endlessly, feeling anxious before exams, and obsessing over every point on a test. But this kind of mindset can lead to burnout and can even prevent us from truly learning and growing.

Instead, we should focus on learning for the sake of learning. We should aim to understand concepts and apply them in real-world situations, rather than just memorizing information for a test. When we shift our focus from grades to learning, we can actually enjoy the process of education and become better students in the long run.

While grades are important, they’re not everything. We should focus on learning for the sake of learning, and not allow grades to define us or our happiness. Because at the end of the day, we’re doing our best, and getting better every day!