With the fall semester approaching faster than most of us students would like, my anxiety about the upcoming 18 credits I stupidly signed up for last spring is at an all-time high. The pressure of knowing that I can be done with my undergraduate degree in just four more semesters is busting through the ceiling that my anxiety caps off at.
Being just over halfway through college, I have figured out some ins and outs that have come in quite handy over the past two years at Wayne State and sadly, one of the biggest, most important tasks I have learned to do is pass a class without actually learning anything. You heard it. Yes, this is sad, but I am not afraid to admit it because I am positive that any former or current college student reading this could say the same thing about at least one of their college courses. Students will do anything to get a good grade in a class. We were programmed that way. We want to do well and we are forced to do well by our friends, parents and, most importantly, society. We have let grades become the leading communication that tells the world if you are able to be successful or not. A small percent of students are coming out of college socially awkward or not able to articulate their words while speaking with others because they had their face shoved in a book for four years. But is that not how we are all supposed to come out of college? Are we not supposed to transform ourselves into our own personal Elle Woods, the main character from "Legally Blonde," and learn everything there is to know about our field of study?
Sadly this is not the case for the majority of college students – the kids who made it through four or more years of undergrad getting good grades without learning a damn thing. Kids like me who stress over every test, memorize all of the material so we can get a grade, and then forget it as soon as they are able to.
It seems ridiculous when I type it out, but when you really break it down, is it?
Is it ridiculous that I am spending over $1,000 on one class? Well, yes. But on the contrary, is it ridiculous that I want to do everything in my power to make every dollar count? Heck no!
I am in no way saying that every college student is going to go to the extreme of cheating on a test but there are countless ways around actually learning the material in which one is being tested on:
They might just find someone who has taken that test before and memorize it.
They might choose to take the online version of a class for the sole purpose of being able to Google their answers.
They might just take a boat load of Adderall and kill their brain cells just for the good grade.
Some of us are guilty of it, and unfortunately some are all going to continue to do it because the pressure of actually getting a bad grade in a class is as high as it can be.
Now, I should say that I am a competitive person. I do not take friendly competitions easily; in fact, I think I get more frustrated about losing a beer pong game than I did when I would lose a basketball game. I like the idea of picking out the weak in the group and eliminating them and I truly believe we should work hard in order to have a competitive field in the work force. I believe people should work hard in order to get the job they deserve. However, the amount of stress that comes along with receiving a good grade on a homework assignment is something that I have seen wreck students completely. Is that how it should be? Should students fall to pieces and emotionally destroy themselves just to receive an A or B in a class that they actually learned nothing in but probably could have if the pressure of a grade was not on the line?
I have been there when my roommate was crying about getting a C- on a test, and I have been there when she was happy about simply passing a class. Why does college put so much stress on testing? Why are professors OK with their students not actually learning any of the material they are teaching their students? Why do professors make one test worth 35 percent of a student’s final grade, but then another homework assignment is worth 2 percent? Any sane college student is not going to do that assignment if they already are going to get an A in the class, even if that assignment was simply to reinforce theimportance of the material you are about to be tested on. It seems silly when you sit here and type this all out on Word because trust me, I am still confused why college is set up like this. Why do we put so much focus on grade point averages when they turn out to not accurately represent what we know? An A in a class most likely just means that someone just knew how to cheat the system.
So with this being said, I challenge all of you fellow college students to pick a class this upcoming fall semester that you want to do well in. Once you have picked one, talk to your professor and challenge yourself to not know your grade for the entirety of the semester. Teach yourself to learn the material and have the confidence to pass it with flying colors. I promise that if you do not know where you stand in the class you will study harder and better. Do this for you, not your GPA.
