Give me a 100 or give me death.
I got a perfect score on my Spanish test. I could have gotten extra credit, but I chose to forego it. Now, since it's a foreign language, I'm happy to exert no effort and breeze by with straight A's. But I was thinking about how I didn't try at all. I didn't work for that 100. I wouldn't have had to work for a 105. Therefore this particular case is nothing to brag about.
But I discovered something. Society + grades = BULLSHIT.
I decided that getting scores like 105% or 110% is absolutely ridiculous. It's nothing but a sign that things are too easy for you, and that you aren't challenging yourself. Maybe in some cases you bust your butt and score high, and then it feels good, but think about it. 110%?! Something's too simple there. Maybe the teacher is easy and she always gives too much extra credit. It's like you're above everyone else's level and are riding free on their stupidity, instead of extolling your own intelligence in an admirable fashion.
Or.
Or, look at it in an even more inteligent way:
Technically there's no such thing as a score above 100, for Chrissake. 100% is an A+ and that's where it ends. People that try to go higher than that are just looking for ways to make less smart people feel better. All it does is scale the number up without changing the actual success rate, if you think about it. Say in all other classes, a student gets 90's, then suddenly in a class that offers loads of extra credit they average about 110's. That means the students that usually get 70's will get 90's on that new scale. They think they've done better because of the higher number, when really, they're still the same distance behind the smarter students.
To offer such high grading possiblities is counterprodutive because it's delusive. It makes B students think they're A students when they aren't, so they feel like they don't have to work as hard. Maybe I think this because of dance competitions. Let's examine that - it's easier to illustrate. Bronze, silver, gold, right? Gold is the best and highest. Well, in some competitions, judges also award platinums. Which makes the platinum winners the best. Gold winners still get to say they won gold, but in reality, their gold is the equivalent of a silver on the normal scale. Second best. See? Ridiculous. All it does is create a false sense of higher accomplishment. Now, there is NOTHING wrong with a silver medal or a B grade. I'm just saying: If you want to drive yourself higher so that you really feel like you worked to get on top, being deluded by fancier names and bigger numbers isn't going to serve you well.
Maybe I'm cruel, but sharper people are going to realize that though you're sitting there with a 105%, it still means you're an A student. You aren't Amazingly Extra Special. But that's okay - no one is, unless they're out winning the Nobel Prize. That's 110%, above and beyond. The problem is that people are putting a lower value on the A range these days. "94%? Fuck that shit, you ain't so smart." People forget that 100% is supposed to be perfect, the best there is. Why do they forget? Because these days it's too easy to get that 100. When it becomes common for average students to get a perfect score, it no longer feels like top achievement. (Average is a C, people, a C. There's nothing wrong with that, so why give it such a bad connotation? I blame parents and teachers for exploiting that negative view.) What does this lower value of the A show in the long run? That no one is challenging themselves. My point has just been proven.
Therefore, no above 100 scores for me. Even if I can do it, I won't because I know what it actually represents and I don't like it. I'm going to make sure I'm working hard to earn my god damned A's. I'm going to challenge myself. You people wonder why I used to be so modest about my scores, even though (gasp) I was getting A's? It was because I knew that I hadn't quite earned them. Now I know better; I've broken down the absurd glass illusion and figured out what's going on. I'm careful to challenge myself, which shows real learning. (Hence I feel I can brag about certain things. Hi, call me Ms. Egotism.) But really. This is yet another reason why letter grades are horrible examples of a person's actual worth.
Sometimes this academic crap really pisses me off.
But I discovered something. Society + grades = BULLSHIT.
I decided that getting scores like 105% or 110% is absolutely ridiculous. It's nothing but a sign that things are too easy for you, and that you aren't challenging yourself. Maybe in some cases you bust your butt and score high, and then it feels good, but think about it. 110%?! Something's too simple there. Maybe the teacher is easy and she always gives too much extra credit. It's like you're above everyone else's level and are riding free on their stupidity, instead of extolling your own intelligence in an admirable fashion.
Or.
Or, look at it in an even more inteligent way:
Technically there's no such thing as a score above 100, for Chrissake. 100% is an A+ and that's where it ends. People that try to go higher than that are just looking for ways to make less smart people feel better. All it does is scale the number up without changing the actual success rate, if you think about it. Say in all other classes, a student gets 90's, then suddenly in a class that offers loads of extra credit they average about 110's. That means the students that usually get 70's will get 90's on that new scale. They think they've done better because of the higher number, when really, they're still the same distance behind the smarter students.
To offer such high grading possiblities is counterprodutive because it's delusive. It makes B students think they're A students when they aren't, so they feel like they don't have to work as hard. Maybe I think this because of dance competitions. Let's examine that - it's easier to illustrate. Bronze, silver, gold, right? Gold is the best and highest. Well, in some competitions, judges also award platinums. Which makes the platinum winners the best. Gold winners still get to say they won gold, but in reality, their gold is the equivalent of a silver on the normal scale. Second best. See? Ridiculous. All it does is create a false sense of higher accomplishment. Now, there is NOTHING wrong with a silver medal or a B grade. I'm just saying: If you want to drive yourself higher so that you really feel like you worked to get on top, being deluded by fancier names and bigger numbers isn't going to serve you well.
Maybe I'm cruel, but sharper people are going to realize that though you're sitting there with a 105%, it still means you're an A student. You aren't Amazingly Extra Special. But that's okay - no one is, unless they're out winning the Nobel Prize. That's 110%, above and beyond. The problem is that people are putting a lower value on the A range these days. "94%? Fuck that shit, you ain't so smart." People forget that 100% is supposed to be perfect, the best there is. Why do they forget? Because these days it's too easy to get that 100. When it becomes common for average students to get a perfect score, it no longer feels like top achievement. (Average is a C, people, a C. There's nothing wrong with that, so why give it such a bad connotation? I blame parents and teachers for exploiting that negative view.) What does this lower value of the A show in the long run? That no one is challenging themselves. My point has just been proven.
Therefore, no above 100 scores for me. Even if I can do it, I won't because I know what it actually represents and I don't like it. I'm going to make sure I'm working hard to earn my god damned A's. I'm going to challenge myself. You people wonder why I used to be so modest about my scores, even though (gasp) I was getting A's? It was because I knew that I hadn't quite earned them. Now I know better; I've broken down the absurd glass illusion and figured out what's going on. I'm careful to challenge myself, which shows real learning. (Hence I feel I can brag about certain things. Hi, call me Ms. Egotism.) But really. This is yet another reason why letter grades are horrible examples of a person's actual worth.
Sometimes this academic crap really pisses me off.