Oftentimes, American students get caught up obsessing over their grades. There is a sort of toxic environment, in high school especially, about getting into college, and starting early to boot.

I’ve especially noticed this since I got to Silicon Valley.

Before, living in Montreal, I think I knew one college’s name off the top of my head, and I really hadn’t been thinking about getting into one. When I moved to the Bay Area, I realized that people already had their lives planned out, and they put themselves in s pressure-cooker environment. I myself got caught up in this bubble.

Recently, when I visited my friends in Montreal, I remembered that a beeline to college really isn’t the only way to live your life, and especially isn’t the best way, in a world that is consistently devaluing a college degree. It was very refreshing that many of my Canadian friends were deciding to travel or work, but really were just making their own, independent decisions on how to live their lives. So here I am to remind you what your GPA really is.

1. You’re pretty good (or not so good) at turning in homework

Teachers give it to you every single day. They want to fill your every waking hour. Some of it’s useful for learning. Most of it, I’d say from experience, seems like it’s only made to keep you busy. Yet, teachers make your grade depend on it, so, whether you learn or not, you feel obligated to do it. I’d love an education system that actually values education, not simply hard work, but the US, with the way they’ve been dealing with homework, just doesn’t seem to have that possibility in the near future.

2. You’re probably pretty good (or not so good) at test-taking

You know the tests I’m talking about; scantron with the open possibility of guesswork. You didn’t study because you are able to so easily guess. The tests don’t challenge your knowledge; they challenge your memory. And then, you’re very likely to forget all the things you memorized because you most definitely crammed the night before. You procrastinated with the foresight that they would not actually test your smarts. So why so you think the grade you got on it reflects how intelligent you are?

3. It literally is a conversion of your grades to a number

When I first heard about it, it seemed kind of arbitrary. It still does. It holds no account of how easy or hard a class was, or even the type of class. People thrive in different settings, and the school system pigeonholes people into very specific classes where many teachers simply give up on the ones who don’t understand because they don’t ask the right questions, or they’re simply too hard to teach. The type of class is important because everyone learns differently. A GPA is indiscriminate. Everyone has the potential to grow to be smart. The school system refuses to foster that growth. I’m sorry that your GPA doesn’t show your intelligence or potential.

4. It isn’t a measure of your worth. Really.

I realize that that isn’t what a GPA is, but realize that a GPA isn’t much. I ran out of things that it is, but it can turn into things too. It can turn into a way for you to criticize yourself. Don’t let it. It’s just a number. You work hard. Your definition of successful can be different from your classmates’, believe it or not. At the end of the day, life is too short to regret anything. You are worth so much more than a number. You won’t remember your high school, or even your college GPA in five or ten years. And if you do, it will be irrelevant because they will have found another way to stress kids out, or at least change the GPA’s meaning by then. Don’t fret. You can do anything you want in life if it includes bettering yourself. You will be richer for it.