When did receiving a B in a class become a bad thing? Why are kids LITERALLY crying as they beg for points to be added to their grade. “I HAVE to
get an A in this class!”
What have we
done to these kids?
If you earn a B in my Calculus class, you should be
skipping. You should run outside and
scream from the mountaintops, “ I AM SPARTACUS!” You should brag to your friends, add a little
swag to your step, and walk with your shoulders back, eyes up, standing just a bit taller. You should be proud of yourself for mastering
limits, continuity, differentiation, related rates, optimization, velocity and
acceleration, integration, area, and volume. You handled logarithmic differentiation and u-substitution integration. You should, in all
seriousness, be really proud of yourself. What an accomplishment.
Mathematically, you are walking where less than 2% walk. Congratulations.
I know you can't see this right now, but your grade doesn't matter. Years from now? It isn't the grade. It is the confidence you gained in
yourself by doing this. A grade of B in
Calculus? Well done. And all you.
Your mom didn’t do your homework for you. You walked in and passed Calculus on your
own. As you move forward in life, know
that you have done something impressive.
Let that carry you and give you confidence that “you have game.” This isn’t like the U9 soccer trophy on your
dresser. Let this B give you confidence
about your abilities as you go forward.
And when did doing something right 85% of the time become looked
down upon? 85%. 8.5 out of every
10? There is NOTHING that I do
correctly 8 and a half times out of 10.
I don’t brush my teeth right 8 out of 10 times. I don’t dress right 8 out of 10 times. My point is that when you think about it, 85
% is pretty impressive.
I get it, “…..its hard to get into college.” Well, shut up. No it isn’t.
It is easier than ever to get into a college. Maybe not the one you dreamed about as a kid,
but there are hundreds of others that will accept you.
At 17, begging diminishes you. Stop it.
Take the grade you earned and do something about it next semester or
don’t. But I’m done watching kids cry
over B’s. Congratulations. And if it is your parents that are badgering
you, have them call me.
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