We hear the line “your grades don’t define you” all the time. From parents to teachers and administration, many people are beginning to indulge in the use of this phrase. Despite what seems like such an uplifting statement, the actual idea of not judging someone by their grades has been overlooked. Time and time again, we students remain bound to the number that comes on report cards, and from the results comes a typical trend. Those who get higher grades receive more praise, whether through celebration at home, impressed comments from teachers, or even distinctions like the Honor Roll. On the opposite side of the spectrum, unhealthy criticism is sent toward those whose grades “aren’t good enough.” Lower scorers are often thought of by peers as being incapable or not having what it takes to succeed, and while they should be rejoicing in their efforts at the end of the term, they are instead encumbered with the pressure to perform better.

These implications are furthered when it comes to applying to colleges, where one of the main criteria for selection is academic performance. The desire for an excellent GPA creates an obsessive scene around grades. 

For most, good grades grant a chance for a “brighter” future as well as more luxuries in life and are therefore seen as a motivation to devote teenage years to studying. In concept, this is a fruitful idea. Committing hours upon hours to comprehend class material should in turn be able to better our lives for the long run. But personal experiences, both mine and others, have shown me just how much of a setback this excessive dedication can be. 

I used to be a very studious person. During my time in middle school, I invested much of my time into furthering my education, and my grades correlated with this investment. At the time I felt fine because this was middle school, there wasn’t much else going on in my life. 

Then I entered Deerfield, a place full of opportunities, and I’ll admit, the school does do a fair job at investing everyone into something outside of academics. With all that is offered, being isolated is sometimes not possible. 

But since my first day here, I’ve been held back by the burdens of my academic performance. I’m able to do things I never could’ve been able to do at home, but, at the same time, I can never fully indulge in them because of my classes. The passions I’ve hoped to pursue have often been put on hold because of the never-ending demands of the scholarly environment. This is not to say that education is worthless, because, in today’s world, it is arguably the biggest determine of success. 

But most students don’t want to spend their nights cramming for that one Chemistry final. To say this may appear as an excuse to do the bare minimum in life is a valid point, but rather than seeing passion and work as two contrasting ideals, we can find a way to combine the two. The passion can be the work. That’s the entire point of our younger years. To discover both what we’re good at and what we’d like to do for a living, not wasting hours of our time studying for tests we’ll immediately forget about. Yes, this route may not have people perform as well as they could when it comes to grades, but if all that schoolwork is consuming lives, is that dedication worth it? Will an A+ truly make people’s lives better, or will that letter grade only add to the pressure to measure up? Students don’t deserve to be spending over a decade’s worth of time worrying about their grades and what the education system thinks about them when there are so many opportunities to discover who they are, ones they can’t get from a grade in class. 

I write this article because as Deerfield students, each one of us has so much potential. We were chosen out of thousands of applicants to be here because the school saw a spark inside us, one that is just waiting to be ignited now. The American education system is limiting our ability to pursue what we love, and chances are, a Scroll article like this won’t be enough to compel the Deerfield administration to reshape the structure of our school. Such a big adjustment would take years, even decades to facilitate. 

But we can’t let that stop us, because the change can begin amongst the students. Our mindsets can be what relieve us from the stress of achieving good grades and bring us from seeking approval to a powerful drive to become leaders and innovators of the future. The time we spend studying for something so irrelevant to us can instead be invested into working towards a life we feel ever so passionate about. We do not have to let such an insignificant number grade define who we are because there is so much more to our existence. After all, studying and getting good grades will never fully bring us happiness. Only doing what we love can.