[…] Average GPAs have significantly increased over the last decade or two. [… T]he same level of achievement earns better grades now than it used to. […]
Grades don’t reflect your aptitude, intelligence, or understanding of the subject matter. You don’t need to actually learn much useful material to get good grades. (And many of those who learn exceptionally well don’t get good grades.) […]
Most people from my generation can’t really do anything else in the real world except bullshit jobs because nobody ever held them to very high standards. They don’t know how to recognize their flaws and improve themselves because everyone always told them that they were doing great and they could do anything just by wanting to. They never ask good questions, nor do they know how or why they should, because they’re taught to shut up and accept whatever the teachers and textbooks tell them. They can’t write because they were taught that every essay needed to be written in Bing-Bang-Bongo format, and nobody ever significantly penalized them for incorrect grammar or spelling. They never really needed to understand the material, only memorize this chapter in the textbook until the test. And even if they did poorly on tests, they could easily pull an A or B in the class just by doing all of the bullshit homework (regardless of how well it was done). […]
I’m keenly aware of this as my history midterm creeps up on me. Granted, the midterm is an essay which will surely test my knowledge better than a multiple-choice test. I’m trying to make excuses for being incapable of hunkering down and studying.
