I wasn’t the biggest fan of college. I have nothing against those that can find enjoyment
in the system, but for me, every second that went by, college exhausted more, and more of
my mental sanity. I honestly just didn’t see a point to it. 3 years later since I’ve quit,
I can safely say 95% of what I learned wasn’t very important. Don’t get me wrong,
school isn’t all bad, in fact, I think some form of education is necessary to live a decent life,
but by taking it too seriously to the point where grades become the end all, be all,
is where it can get extremely toxic. Some people become severely depressed over a letter...
let that sink in. People are harming themselves over an alphabet letter. A letter you can find in
a soup can. I feel for them because it’s not their fault society gives meaning to these letters. The
majority believes receiving an “A” means you’re an amazing, intelligent individual, and an “F” means
you’re an absolute failure. At some point, you gotta question the absurdity of those beliefs.
There is a Simpsons episode that demonstrates more of the issues I have with the school system
in general. Kids don’t know the difference between what matters and what doesn't.
So with characters such as Bart Simpson, school is going to take a mental toll on him.
“Bart Gets an F” is a relatable Simpsons episode, especially for me. It starts with Bart giving a
presentation on some book that he didn’t read. Obviously, the teacher is going to be suspicious
and knows he’s half-assing his assignment. She tells him to see her after class, and the real
ones know what those words mean. He is told that he is on the verge of flunking the semester,
and that there is a huge exam the next day. He tries his best to care, but part of him doesn’t
and I don’t blame him.
They say take school seriously, but you read textbooks like these and they're boring as hell. That has nothing to do with intelligence, make a more interesting book.
So the next day Bart panics about how he is going to take a test that he didn’t study for.
He becomes the world’s greatest actor and fakes his illness so that he can get out of class,
delaying the test for as long as possible. Bart calls his good friend to ask him about the answers
for the test, thinking that he can cheat his way to victory, only to fail once again. The teacher
gets pissed, and holds a parent/teacher conference believing that will change things, but Bart’s
awesome parents don’t really seem to care that much.
Now imagine that, imagine failing all your tests and having parents that think nothing less of you. I feel like that should be a given, but
once again, the meaning attached to these letters are ridiculous and they can even alter the opinion
of your closest relationships. Also, you have to deal with ignorant questions like this:
This idea that if it takes longer for someone to improve, compared to other people, there’s something wrong
with them, they’re not good enough, they must have some form of mental illness or something,
it’s all complete nonsense. There are grown adults in real life who put these toxic beliefs
in these kids' heads.
They are trained early to be a perfect robot who can’t think for themselves.
The letter “F” does not mean a damn thing, the letter “A” does not mean a damn thing.
Grades in general don’t mean a damn thing but the meaning you attach to them.
So since the teachers programmed Bart to behave like a good robot,
he becomes paranoid when told that if he fails the next exam, he will be forced to repeat the
4th grade. He responds to this by doing his best to study for it, knowing deep down he
would rather do anything else. I feel Bart’s pain because just like him I daydream easily
if I’m not entertained. When you have a short attention span, and teachers expressing how
shockingly different you are compared to what they expect from you, this is the result:
You start hating yourself. You start to question why you were born different.
Bart takes the exam, and fails once again, meaning would have to take the 4th grade
all over again. The teacher, while unsurprised by the result, is surprised by his reaction:
When I was in college I didn’t pass English. Part of the reason for that is because I couldn’t find
much of a reason to care about anything that I was learning, but still, I remember the times when I
put my big boy shoes on, got to work, and finished an essay, and believing that I did a pretty decent
job, or at least a “good enough to pass” job, but I was told by the grading system that I wasn’t a
good writer, or at least, that’s the meaning I attached to the letter “F” at the time. What’s
funny is that even then, part of me knew that idea was complete bs. Fast forward 2 years later,
when all my video essays blew up back in early 2020, and I got thousands upon thousands of
comments telling me that my content made their day better, you know what that taught me?
It taught me that you can’t grade writing. It’s an art just like painting, or making music, and as
long as you enjoy what you’re creating, that’s all that really matters. You don’t need some grading
system to tell you how far you’re going to get in life. That’s all up to you, and your imagination.
Bart ends up receiving a D- on his exam, after saying... something about George Washington.
The teacher generously boosts his grade so that he barely passes. What’s important here is his
reaction. He celebrates the D- like it’s an A+. His parents hang his accomplishment
on a refrigerator. Why is this important? It means, it’s okay to celebrate progress.
If you’ve been addicted to alcohol for years and finally manage to restrain for a week,
good, celebrate that. If it takes you 10 games to score your first 2 points in a basketball game,
what matters is that it’s your first 2 points, so celebrate that. Every youtuber wants a million
subscribers, but can you celebrate your first 1,000? If you have 100 subscribers,
celebrate that. If you have 1 subscriber, celebrate THAT. I need everyone to know
what may seem like small progress, is still progress, so be proud of yourself for making
any sort of progress, and surround yourself with people who are also proud of you,
not because of a letter, a number, or an award, but because of who you are.