A, B, C, D, F...the last time I checked these five letters are 5 out of the 26 letters we use in our alphabet. When most people see these five letters they associate them with schools; A being the best and F being the worst. "Nobody wants an F." "F stands for failure." "You want to be an A-letter student." So many times do we as students hear those phrases from our parents, grandparents, teachers, and even see them hung up in poster form all along our classroom walls. It's no wonder that we have been raised to have the mentality of grades defining what type of student we are, what type of person we are, how hard of a worker we are, and if we try in school or not. People never ask the questions, "did you feel good about that test?" Or," did you try to do your best?". It is always, "what grade did you get on that test?". And based off our answer that letter grade (apparently) defined if we studied, tried, or even cared about that test.

So many of us spend a lot of our time beating ourselves up over a C-, constantly worrying what people will say if they know on the other side of our test is a big fat F, wondering if maybe because we got a D in some of our classes if school is even the right place for us. But why? Why do we believe people when they tell us our grades mean everything when it comes to our futures? Why do we feel the need as students to use grades as a form of competition in schools? Do we need to feel a sense of self-esteem when comparing our A to a peer's D?

Well, we shouldn't. We are all so much more than a letter on a piece of paper. We are actors, dancers, athletes, friends, singers, lovers, readers, writers, adventurers, protesters, explorers, innovators, and most importantly in our own ways smart, creative people that cannot be put into stereotypes based on our grades. We are bigger and better than those so called categories of five letters. We should worry less about how other's view us based on our grades and worry about whether or not we are performing to the best of our ability based on our own standards. Because as long as we are knowingly doing the best that we can, then who is to judge otherwise?