If you were to look at my to-do list for the week (and it’s a long one!), you wouldn’t see that:
- I have to study for a test in German or
- I have to rewrite a story for my journalism class or
- I have a class project that I need to work on with my group in the evenings.
Actually, you won’t see anything related to the classes I’m taking at the University of Wisconsin.
I’ve never been fond of the standard system of education. You may have noticed that in previous columns I have written about the poor process of teaching that many professors gravitate toward and discussed discussion classes that aren’t really discussions at all.
Maybe you have even come across my 35,000 word manifesto on education, Start Schooling Dreams.
If you were to look at my to-do list for the week, what you will see is everything that I am doing, leading and belonging to outside the school system.
The ideas in the column you are now reading were sparked by another column in The Badger Herald written by Charles Godfrey.
In his column, “College: It’s about the people, not the journey,” Godfrey said, “While I would love to play cool and pretend that I don’t care about academics, that would be an utter falsehood because since freshman year I have been entirely too absorbed by my classes.”
While I agree with his “zen metaphor” (worth a read!) and the idea behind seeking balance with work, school and life, I can’t help but reflect the complete opposite in terms of being absorbed by my classes.
Yes, I do care about academics, but grades? Forget it. If you ask me what my GPA is, you are asking for a lecture on why grades don’t matter to me.
Godfrey is a perfect reminder to me that I’m doing the right thing, putting college not at the end of my priority list, but surely not the front. What Godfrey said rings true throughout the entire student body, “Academic anxiety has caused me to exercise less, screwed with my eating habits, interfered with my social life and caused me no end of sleep deprivation.”
School is not your life. School is part of your life, and you get to decide how large that part of your life is. Why decide that it needs to be such a large part and elect to live with all those consequences? I’m puzzled.
Let me ask a question. Could you still be successful in the career you want without a perfect GPA? If you answer no, then ignore what I have to say, but be sure that what you are going for is what you really want. (Of course, that’s a trick suggestion. How can you know what you really want if all you’ve ever done is live a life of academic anxiety?)
If your answer is yes, why are you not developing that part of your personal career? Why are you relying on school and grades to get to where you want to be? Why not focus a little less on grades and a little more on yourself?
I’m a writer, a damn opinionated one, and I will not wait until graduation to have a writing job. I won’t wait for school events or an internship to connect me with other writers, editors and publishers. I practice impatience.
I’ve seen a lot of good writers in my classes. I’ve talked with those who get straight As and it’s as if they have gotten nowhere. Whatever career you are pursuing, if you had to choose between getting straight As or getting straight Bs but also a holding temporary job in your field of interest, which do you think would have a better outcome?
Life is simple, but not so simple that it can be narrowed down to the idea if you get great grades then you can be everything you want to be. You may have an A in your class, but I’ve done more.
Garth Beyer ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism.
